Good Question: How Often Do We Go Out To Eat?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – On Monday afternoon, it took 45 minutes for Olive Garden to sell out its newest promotion: 7 weeks of all-you-can-eat pasta and Coca-Cola for $100.
"It was sold out, the webpage didn't load," said one man who tried for the offer. "It didn't refresh and when I got back, it was done."
He would have had to visit the restaurant at least ten times to make it worth the money.
So, how much are we eating out? Good Question.
The National Restaurant Association expects us to spend $683 billion on dining out in 2014, up from $659 billion in 2013. But, according to the NPD Group/CREST, our number of visits to restaurants isn't quite back to 2008 pre-recession levels.
In 1930, we spent 13 percent of our food budget on eating out. By 1970, that jumped to 26 percent. In 2012, it was at 43 percent. The National Restaurant Association estimates we eat away from home five to seven times a week.
"We're busy, people are on the go," said Debra Barone Sheats, the director of the nutrition and dietetics program at St. Catherine University.
She says, on average, each meal we eat away from home adds 134 calories. Once a week, over the course of a year, that can add up to two pounds. Since 1960, the average adult is 24 pounds heavier.
"If you look when you go out to a restaurant, often the food is served on a platter. I tell my students that's two to three servings you're getting when you go out to eat."
Lunch is the most popular meal away from home and averages about $10 a meal. The cost of an average fast-food meal is about $6. According to Zagat's, a fine dining meal runs closer to $37.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, higher-income people spend $5,163 at restaurants and $5,828 on food at home per year. Lower-income spend $1,038 at restaurants and $,2448 on food at home per year.