New Toast data finds the Average Date Night at a Restaurant Costs $121, up more than 75% in 5 Years

March 02, 2023 at 16:05 PM EST

The Q4 2022 Restaurant Trends Report also includes data on the average number of transactions per restaurant location, beer and delivery updates from the Super Bowl, a look into various metro areas across the U.S., and tipping trends.

Toast (NYSE: TOST), the all-in-one digital platform built for restaurants, today announced its Q4 2022 Restaurant Trends Report, providing insight into the overall state of the U.S. restaurant industry through an analysis of aggregated sales data from selected cohorts of restaurants in select U.S. metropolitan areas on the Toast platform, which serves approximately 79,000 restaurant locations in the U.S. as of Dec. 31, 2022. The report also includes data from Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 12, 2023) and Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14, 2023).

Key trends include:

Metro area transaction counts: One big question likely on the mind of restaurant operators is: Are more people patronizing restaurants, whether dining-in or taking out? To answer this question we dove into Toast data from twelve metropolitan areas across the United States and using a select cohort of restaurants to determine how the average number of transactions per restaurant location has changed in Q4 2022 when compared to Q4 2021.

The good news? Guests continue to enjoy their favorite restaurants, as average transaction count was up in every metropolitan area that Toast explored, except for the Phoenix metro area. The New York City metropolitan area, for example, saw an approximate 10% increase in average transactions per restaurant location on the Toast platform in Q4 2022 when compared to Q4 2021.¹

The State of Dates in America: A new question Toast set out to find the answer to is what is the cost of date nights in America? So we looked at the biggest date night of the year — Valentine's Day.

The average full-service restaurant Valentine’s Day dinner with food and drink on the Toast platform costs diners $102 in 2023 before tips, which is down from $107 in 2022. Applying the average tip percentage for full-service restaurants in Q4 2022 at 19.6%, and looking at a cohort of restaurants in 12 U.S. metropolitan areas, a Valentine’s Day full-service restaurant date night for two in 2023 with food and drink costs an average of $121 plus tax. In 2018, the average Valentine’s Day date at similarly situated full-service restaurants with tip cost just $69 without tax.²

Tipping insights:

Our data suggests that people are choosing to tip with a card or digital payment at QSRs more frequently. Approximately 48% of transactions at QSR restaurants on the Toast platform included a tip in the form of a card or digital payment in Q4 2022. That’s up approximately 11% since Q1 2020. ³

For all of the insights from the Toast Q4 2022 Restaurant Trends Report including more tipping data, insights from the 2023 Super Bowl, cuisine trends, and information with respect to select Metropolitan Statistical Areas, visit the Toast Newsroom.

Methodology: The Restaurant Trends Report, powered by Toast, uncovers key trends across the restaurant industry through aggregated sales data from a selection of cohorts of restaurants on the Toast platform, which has approximately 79,000 locations as of Dec. 31, 2022, in the U.S. All growth rates are calculated on a same-store sales basis for the applicable period of time. The Restaurant Trends Report is not indicative of the operational performance of Toast or its reported financial metrics, including GMV growth and same-store GMV growth.

¹Toast analyzed the number of same-store transactions in select metropolitan areas that were greater than $0.00 from a cohort of restaurants on the Toast platform from Oct. 1, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2022 to determine the average number of transactions per restaurant location on the Toast platform in Q4 2021 and 2022. Toast used a cohort of same-store customers that have been on the platform since 2019 to show COVID-19 pandemic recovery trends.

²Toast analyzed February 14 transaction sizes for two people during in-restaurant dinner service at full-service restaurants on the Toast platform from 2018 to 2023. Restaurants that had less than five transactions were excluded. Taxes not included. Toast used a cohort of same-store customers and did not include restaurants that started using Toast on or after January 1, 2021.

³Data from applicable QSR restaurants on the Toast platform where a tip was added to the order via a card or digital payment. Toast used a cohort of same-store customers that have been on the platform since 2019.