The State of Business Dining: 5 Key Takeaways for Restaurants

If you follow the news, it can seem impossible to predict what to expect regarding post-pandemic corporate dining recovery. Is remote work here to stay, or isn’t it? Are business diners and their employers worried about inflation? How will the current economic outlook impact business travel and dining budgets?

Our Q3 State of Business Dining Report, developed in partnership with Technomic, looks at actual corporate cardholder data and other recent studies to bring expertly-informed predictions and recommendations to restaurants. Here are the top 5 takeaways.

1. Business dining has almost fully recovered

Dinova’s BDIndex measures current business dining spend as a percentage of 2019 spend during the same time of year; when the number reaches 100, business dining recovery has fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Our latest analysis predicted that the BDIndex would reach 89 in Q3, just 11 points shy of a full recovery. Every major market has seen gains.

2. Office occupancy is on the rise

While remote and hybrid work remain commonplace, workers are slowly filing back into their offices. Kastle’s Back to Work Barometer currently puts the average occupancy at 47.4% and expects this number to continue climbing. However, there are significant regional differences. In-person work is more prevalent in small and midsize cities, where more people drive to work. Know your locale!

3. Business diners are more inflation-resistant

A big question on everyone’s mind is, “What will inflation’s impact be?” While many consumers report cutting back on restaurant spending amid rising costs, business diners and travelers are far more inflation-resilient. This underscores the importance of targeting business diners, especially as they use restaurants and food for meeting venues and culture-building tools.

4. Business travel and events are back

Half of consumers plan to take a business trip in the next six months. In-person conferences have roared back even more swiftly than expected. In July, Knowland raised its 2022 meetings market recovery outlook from 58.3% to 72.1%, and the number continues to inch upward. 23 out of 24 markets studied are expected to reach a 100% recovery by 2024.

5. Companies use catering to encourage employees to come to the office

Although order volume remains down amid remote and hybrid work, there is opportunity to capitalize on companies that are using catering and private dining as culture and relationship-building tools. As companies begin to plan their holiday celebrations, now is an important time for restaurants to capture that business. Tools like our dining guides and Dine Assist concierge service allow companies to find and book a restaurant.