Vincent NG
How Often do We Eat Out, and What Are the Reasons?
Back in the fall of 2010 Ipsos Reid along with the Canadian Restaurant Food Association did a study about the frequency of eating out by Canadians and the reasons why. In this blog article we’ll cover some of the highlights of the report and some interesting facts about Canadians and their relationship to restaurants in general.
Here’s are the highlights of the report.
1) 63% of Canadians see eating out as a luxury, only 16% saw it as an everyday activity. And the rest are in the middle where they don’t see it as luxury or an everyday activity.
2) 34% of Canadians actually dream of opening up some form of food and/or drinking establishment. 32% of those that wanted to open up one, wanted to open up a family style restaurant.
3) 28% of Canadians prefer the restaurant as their number one place to socialize with friends and family. Another 7% said a bar or pub. 22.9% said that outdoor activities and 12% said that movies were next. With this data you can see why a few restaurants like to combine dinner and a movie together.
4) 40.2% of Canadians 55+ and over chose eating out at a restaurant as the number one social activity. 24.9% of people 35-54 are in second place. And the 18-34 year old group was 19.2 %.
5) A restaurant daily visit is an occurrence for 1 in 15 Canadians. 23% of Canadians eat out once a week. 17.3 % will eat out once every 1.5 to 2 weeks.
6) On average Canadians purchase about 1.7 meals a week.
7) In the Atlantic and Ontario, people on average eat out 2 times a week. While those that are in Western Canada are 1.6. And in Quebec it’s 1.4 times.
8) People aged 18-34 were likely to eat at a restaurant twice a week. While those between 35-54 would eat out about 1.8 times. And those that were 55+ would eat out 1.5 times a week at a restaurant.
Highlights regarding Eating Out:
9) 60% of Canadians are keeping their eating habits the same, while 14% of them are eating out more. And the biggest reason why those people eat out more is because it’s because of convenience. However 25% of Canadians are spending less on eating out and this is because they are trying to watch their budget.
10) 39% of Canadians love to try out new foods and flavours, while 37% like trying out new restaurants. The CRFA has quoted these people as foodies. This is especially true for people ages 18-34 years old.
11) 29% of people thought that it was important to have healthy choices when eating out, while only 15% of people look for locally grown food
To find out all the details from the report Canada’s Restaurant Industry: Putting jobs and economic growth on the menu. Here’s an article about how often Americans are eating out.
