SPECIAL REPORT
THE PANDEMIC BROUGHT FULL-SERVICE RESTAURANTS TO A CROSSROADS Widespread dining room closures forced sit-down operators to embrace convenience. But consumers still want an experience too.
FULL-SERVICE TRAFFIC IS STILL LAGGING BEHIND PRE-COVID LEVELS. | IMAGE BY NICO HEINS/ MIDJOURNEY
F ive years after the pandemic turned the full-service restaurant category upside down, the segment finds itself pulled in two directions. Should sit-down places offer convenience? Or an experience? During the pandemic, restaurants known for on-site dining and table service became more convenient by default. They added pickup and delivery and other technology to get their food to customers stuck at home and keep their own lights on. Today, those survival tactics are table stakes for most full-ser - vice operators. At the same time, the pandemic demonstrated that there is still demand for on-premise dining. When restrictions began to ease in the summer of 2021, consumers couldn’t wait to go out to eat again. They craved hospitality and togetherness, and that is still what sets full service apart from fast food. In 2025, full-service restaurants are trying to reconcile those two divergent trends as they grapple with a new crisis. Due to inflation, consumers are dining out less. Well-known brands are closing locations, and some are filing for bankrupt - cy. In 2024, full-service traffic was down at least 20% com - pared to 2019, said Joe Pawlak, managing principal with in- dustry researcher Technomic. “It just seems that somewhat of a sea change has occurred,” he said. “If consumers are thinking of eating out, it’s either ex- perience or convenience. And if you’re kind of in the middle there, not doing either real good, you’re gonna be left out.” Before March of 2020, most full-service restaurants oper - ated under the traditional model: Customers came in, sat down and ate. Many operations did not even offer online ordering. “We did not have a stitch of technology in our restau - rants,” said Matt Eisenacher, chief brand officer of breakfast- and-lunch chain First Watch. When the pandemic struck, it changed everything. First Watch added online ordering, delivery, digital kitchen dis - plays and QR codes, all in a matter of days. The process taught the brand that technology wasn’t evil, Eisenacher said. “COVID gave us permission to kind of do a cannonball and try a lot of these things that we might have taken years to test,” he said. It was a similar story for Cooper’s Hawk Winery and
JOE GUSZKOWSKI
JOSEPH.GUSZKOWSKI@INFORMA.COM
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS APRIL 2025
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