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BentoBox Releases 2022 Restaurant Trend Report With Insights From Over 14,000 Restaurants
Amid a year of hospitality industry challenges, BentoBox found that restaurants leaned on technology to drive discovery, enable direct consumer relationships, and save $33 million on third-party fees.
NEW YORK, dec. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — BentoBox, the restaurant technology company that partners with over 14,000 restaurants worldwide, today announced its 2022 Restaurant Trend Reporta data-forward look at the trends defining the industry this year.
Amid ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, and continued staffing shortages, the Restaurant Trend Report breaks down how the industry has evolved over the past year and what’s coming in 2023. Here are this year’s leading trends:
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Cost pressures escalated across the board. While consumers returned to in-house dining, restaurants struggled to meet demand amid rising costs in both food and labor.
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To combat labor shortages, 2022 saw a 9% increase in job postings and recruitment efforts on BentoBox websites from 2021.
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While 91% of restaurants increased prices this year, 85% still report being less profitable than pre-pandemic.
Restaurant technology helped restaurants drive high-margin revenue. In search of clever solutions, restaurants leveraged technology such as email marketing and direct e-commerce to tap into repeat business with low acquisition costs.
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Revenue from loyalty program promotions increased by 74% year-over-year. In total, repeat customers account for 35% of online orders, up from 29% in 2021.
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BentoBox also found that revenue from digital gift cards increased by 9% in 2022. The average online gift card sold for $120but diners redeemed just 73% of that amount, with restaurants keeping the difference.
Diners used search engines and websites more than third-party apps. When a diner viewed a new restaurant this past year, there was a 75% chance their journey passed through the restaurant’s website.
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Search Engines and Websites were the top two channels for finding new restaurants, outpacing Social Media and Third-Party Apps.
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68% of diners age 40 and under were more likely to find new restaurants using the search engines they use daily than diners 41 and over.
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Nearly half of adult diners did not use third-party reservation platforms to discover new restaurants.
Online ordering became part of the new normal. Once a lifeline amid COVID-19, online ordering sustained its momentum in 2022.
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BentoBox saw an 18% increase in restaurants offering direct online ordering.
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Restaurants that offered direct-to-consumer delivery through BentoBox saved $33 million on third-party fees.
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As for tipping habits, only 88% of diners tipped on delivery, while 63% opted to leave a tip on pickup orders.
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BentoBox found the three states with the best tippers to be Maine, Kentuckyand Delawarewith the three worst states for tipping being Oklahoma, Georgianand Texas.
In-person dining returned. Heading into the second full year of the recovery, reservations are in demand again and operators are leveraging in-person events as a valuable revenue channel.
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The data showed an 84% increase in online ticketed event sales, pointing to a strong return to in-person experiences.
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Customers are comfortable dining indoors again, with reported comfort levels higher and Google searches for “restaurant COVID” terms lower than any other time since the pandemic.
visit 2022restaurants.com to access the full report and read about emerging trends to watch for in 2023 surrounding labor costs, consumer interest, social media usage, and more. For additional information on BentoBox’s 2022 Restaurant Trend Report, please contact [email protected].
About BentoBox
The BentoBox Marketing and Commerce Platform delivers a seamless guest experience dedicated to accelerating growth and helping restaurants thrive. BentoBox empowers modern restaurants to build their online presence, engage with diners, diversify revenue streams and increase operational efficiency. To do so, the platform includes products such as websites, ordering (online ordering, pre-order & catering, gift cards, merchandise, tickets), events management, and marketing tools.
Over 14,000 restaurants worldwide rely on BentoBox as their digital front door. BentoBox is trusted and loved by hospitality groups such as José Andrés’s ThinkFoodGroup and Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group and independent restaurants including Emmy Squared, Suerte, and The Meatball Shop.
Contact:
[email protected]
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bentobox-releases-2022-restaurant-trend-report-with-insights-from-over-14-000-restaurants-301694194.html
SOURCE BentoBox
This tiny Brooklyn restaurant is the toughest reservation in NYC
At 4:45 pm Thursday, Carlos Sevilla and his date, Kriti Shrestha, finally secured a table for two at Masalawala & Sons. It was no easy feat. They’d been trying to snag one since September, when the Indian restaurant — with its Bengali dinner party atmosphere — first opened in a former Park Slope bakery and rapidly became one of the city’s hottest restaurants.
“When it first was about to open, reservations were a month in advance — it was slim pickings,” Park Sloper Sevilla, 37, told The Post. He found himself constantly reloading restaurant reservation site Resy — to no avail.
Dining at Masalawala & Sons is by reservations—only “unless there is any last minute cancellation,” its website alerts. But good luck scoring one at the 36-seat restaurant: the average waitlist is 600 people, a rep for the restaurant told The Post.
Tucked into a busy, unglamorous stretch of Brooklyn’s Fifth Avenue not far from the Barclays Center, the humble-seeming restaurant is helmed by James Beard award-winning chef Chintan Pandya and restaurateur Roni Mazumdar. The pair are behind the critically acclaimed Dhamaka on Delancey Street and Adda in Long Island City. Dhamaka was said to have a 1,500-name wait list a full year after opening. Now, Masalawala & Sons — decked out with tangerine-colored murals and fiery orange-and-yellow flower garlands — is experiencing a similar frenzy.
Reservations open on Resy 30 days in advance at midnight, and one savvy diner told The Post they’ve gone so far as to enlist colleagues in London to book for them. That said, four barstools are allotted for walk-ins, and the odd two-top for a weekday 5 or 5:15 pm time slot does pop up.
Sevilla’s hunt for a table became a team effort; Shrestha, 31, who lives in Midtown, is now also trying, but she could only find a table open on Thanksgiving, when both already had plans.
Eventually the couple gave up trying to book online. Since Seville lives in the neighborhood, he walked by and asked for advice. Show up at 4:45 pm, he was told, 15 minutes before the restaurant opens, and he might get seated at 5. Three months after their journey began, they were sitting down for dinner at 5 on the dot.
“We were the first ones seated,” Sevilla told The Post, enthusing over the kosha mangsho, a braised lamb dish. “It was worth it. It was really good.”
Getting a table for four on Thursday represented a major victory for Park Slope anesthesiologist Erika Pence, who confessed to having been on the case since October.
“They were booked out for the month every time I tried,” Pence said, savoring his good fortune, along with the forehead vada, a dish of fermented lentil dumplings served with sweet and savory yogurt flecked with roasted cumin.
“I got an email yesterday that someone canceled for 6 pm,” she said.
Despite Masalawala’s electric atmosphere and melting-pot menu fusing Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi and Marathi flavors, there’s a familiar, comfortable vibe. And that’s the point, said Mazumdar. The restaurant is intended as a tribute to the Indian homestyle cooking that his Kolkata-born father loved, and that Mazumdar grew up eating.
It’s the restaurant he tried to open ten years ago on the Lower East Side, which may have lasted a decade, but wound up serving a lot of chicken tikka masala and other dishes Mazumdar didn’t grow up eating. The first Masalawala closed last year; at the reboot, diners seem to be hungry for whatever the James Beard-winning Pandya is serving, familiar or not.
Shortly after 6 pm, a table of three sat attentively as a server carved fresh coconut flesh into shrimp curry, tableside. He reminded diners to scrape up every ounce of the Ripon Street majja, bone marrow in paya curry sauce, onto their fresh-fired pao Indian bread. Diners get an A+, he said,
People Are Sharing Their Best Family Cooking Tricks
Lots of families have recipes passed down through generations, cooking tips and flavor-boosting techniques that are basically sacred. So Redditor u/OoopsieWhoopsie asked, “What Are Some Of Your ‘Secret’ Family Cooking Tips?” Here’s what people say, and I’m personally looking forward to trying some of these in my own kitchen.
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“My family owns a catering business, which was started by my grandparents who came to the states from Portugal. One thing I’ve learned that greatly improves my meals is to add butter to your noodles when making saucy pasta like spaghetti in tomato sauce. “
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“My grandma would save butter wrappers in the fridge and use the left over butter on them for greasing dishes when she baked. Now I can’t help but stockpile the wrappers. It really comes in so handy.”
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“Mustard powder in mac ‘n’ cheese. It’s so necessary, otherwise mac tastes bland even when you use sharp cheddar.. I also put in a bit of cayenne pepper.”
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“Put a little fish sauce into any stew or sauce that needs an umami boost. It’s basically anchovies in liquid form.”
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“A tablespoon of ground coffee in brownies really kicks up the chocolate flavor a notch. The higher quality the coffee beans, the better.”
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“Sprinkle sea salt on cookies right before or right after baking. The extra salt brings out the flavors more and helps balance out the sweetness.”
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“I’m from a Midwestern Scandinavian family, and I have learned that cream of mushroom soup is kind of a universal solution for improving any dish.”
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“My pumpkin pies are very well-regarded in my friend’s circle, but the secret is the crust: It’s just crushed up Trader Joe’s Triple Ginger cookies and melted butter.”
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“Very gently fold whipped egg whites into pancake batter with a whisk. It makes the pancakes so much better, fluffier, and more decadent.”
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“In my family we mix a heaping scoop of mayonnaise into cake batter, whether it’s scratch or from a box.”
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“I use almond extract in pretty much all of my baked goods. Often, if a recipe calls for vanilla extract, I will either sub almond for all of it or use half and half.”
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“There is no better chocolate chip cookie recipe than the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse chocolate chip bag. Follow it to the letter. Everyone thinks I have the best of the best chocolate chip cookies.”
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“Add pickle juice to tuna or chicken salad. This adds just the right amount of tartness.”
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“Add a packet of vanilla pudding when you’re making cake. You can actually substitute any flavor of pudding. It makes the cake much more moist.”
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“I use vanilla or plain full fat yogurt in my bathing mixture for French toast in place of milk. It turns out perfectly every time.”
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“If you’re making bread bowls, don’t hollow them out. Instead, pack down the inner bread layer to create a thicker bottom. This will prevent leaks and sogginess when you serve your soup or whatever you’re making.”
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“When I’m cooking anything that requires breadcrumbs, I use crushed up chicken flavored Stove Top stuffing. I also use them as mini croutons in my salads.”
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“In my family, a decent aged balsamic vinegar adds depth to almost anything you’re making. I use aged balsamic in literally everything from chili to spaghetti. It’s a fantastic addition, and you only need a tiny bit to make the flavors pop. “
19.
“Add a pinch of nutmeg to anything with dairy in it (for example, cream sauces). You won’t taste the nutmeg but it makes the dairy richer and tastes better.”
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“When I make burgers I mix a packet of Lipton onion soup mix and a couple dashes of nutmeg in with the ground beef. I let it sit for at least an hour or two in the fridge before I start grilling. It gives the meat a nice little oomph over just a plain salt/pepper seasoning.”
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“Whenever I’m making a cheese sauce, I add a piece of processed cheese like Kraft singles. It basically turns it into Velveeta. It’s revolutionized my homemade mac ‘n’ cheese game.”
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“My wife was stunned to learn that after 25 years together, she only just found out that I put lemon juice in my pancake batter. It’s the ultimate melt-in-your-mouth pancake trick.”
23.
“Bacon always comes out better if you cook it in an oven, but the key is putting the bacon into the oven before turning the oven on. Preheating the oven ahead of time will make the bacon stick to the baking sheet, so putting it in as the oven preheats will mean that the fat renders out more easily (and therefore doesn’t stick).”
24.
“My