42 Restaurant Marketing Statistics, Trends, and Data Points for 2026

This research asset compiles verified restaurant marketing statistics on how diners discover restaurants, the growth of online ordering and delivery, the influence of social media and reviews, loyalty program participation, and digital marketing adoption. Every number below is attributed to a named publisher and year, with vendor-commissioned and self-reported figures flagged so the data is defensible for journalists, operators, and analysts.

Executive Summary

• Word of mouth is the single largest restaurant discovery channel, cited by 45% of U.S. diners in a December 2025 Toast survey (Toast, 2026 report, blind survey of 850 U.S. adults 21+). Vendor-commissioned, self-reported.
• Online sources such as Yelp, Google, and Resy drive discovery for 33% of diners, ahead of social media, per the same Toast survey (Toast, 2026). Vendor-commissioned, self-reported.
• 65% of diners say they book reservations directly on a restaurant’s own website rather than on third-party reservation sites, per a March 2024 Toast blind survey of 850 U.S. adults (Toast, 2025). Vendor-commissioned, self-reported.
• DoorDash recorded 732 million U.S. and international marketplace orders in Q1 2025, up 18% year over year, on Marketplace Gross Order Value of $23.1 billion (DoorDash Q1 2025 results, filed with the SEC, May 2025). Primary financial disclosure.
• Uber’s Delivery segment posted $20.1 billion in Gross Bookings in Q4 2024, up 18% year over year (Uber Q4 and full year 2024 results, February 2025). Primary financial disclosure.
• Among restaurant operators with a loyalty program, 70% say it helped boost customer traffic, per the National Restaurant Association 2025 State of the Restaurant Industry report (NRA, 2025). Industry association survey.
• 82% of adult diners plan to order delivery and 81% plan to eat at table-service restaurants in 2025, per the National Restaurant Association 2025 State of the Industry (NRA, 2025). Industry association survey.
• Total U.S. restaurant and foodservice sales are projected at $1.5 trillion in 2025 and $1.55 trillion in 2026, per the National Restaurant Association (NRA, 2025 and 2026 State of the Industry).

Key Findings

Each finding is one sentence with a number, timeframe, geography, and inline source. Vendor-commissioned consumer surveys are flagged because they are self-reported and fielded by companies that sell to restaurants.

• 45% of U.S. diners discover new restaurants through word of mouth (Toast, 2026 report, December 2025 blind survey of 850 U.S. adults 21+; vendor-commissioned). Source
• 33% of U.S. diners discover restaurants through online sources like Yelp, Google, and Resy (Toast, 2026; vendor-commissioned). Source
• Within online discovery, U.S. diners named Facebook (27%), Instagram (15%), YouTube (15%), and TikTok (14%) as the social channels they use to find restaurants (Toast, 2026; vendor-commissioned, self-reported). Source
• 65% of U.S. diners book reservations directly on a restaurant’s website rather than on sites like OpenTable (Toast, 2025 reservation data, March 2024 survey of 850 U.S. adults; vendor-commissioned). Source
• DoorDash processed 732 million marketplace orders in Q1 2025, an 18% year-over-year increase (DoorDash Q1 2025 results, SEC filing, May 6, 2025). Source
• DoorDash Marketplace Gross Order Value reached $23.1 billion in Q1 2025, up 20% year over year (DoorDash Q1 2025 results, SEC filing, May 2025). Source
• Uber’s Delivery Gross Bookings were $20.1 billion in Q4 2024, up 18% year over year (Uber Q4 and full year 2024 results, February 5, 2025). Source
• 70% of U.S. restaurant operators with a loyalty program say it helped boost customer traffic (National Restaurant Association, 2025 State of the Industry). Source
• 61% of delivery customers, 54% of quick-service patrons, and 41% of table-service diners in the U.S. say loyalty program membership influences where they eat (National Restaurant Association, 2025). Source
• 82% of U.S. adult diners planned to order delivery in 2025, and 76% planned to eat at quick-service restaurants (National Restaurant Association, 2025). Source
• 61% of U.S. restaurant operators reported that guest traffic declined between 2023 and 2024 (National Restaurant Association, 2025 State of the Industry). Source
• U.S. restaurant and foodservice sales are projected to reach $1.5 trillion in 2025, a roughly 4% year-over-year increase (National Restaurant Association, 2025). Source
• U.S. restaurant and foodservice sales are projected to reach $1.55 trillion in 2026, a 4.8% year-over-year increase driven largely by menu pricing (National Restaurant Association, 2026 State of the Industry). Source
• The U.S. restaurant industry is projected to employ 15.9 million people by the end of 2025, remaining the nation’s second-largest private-sector employer (National Restaurant Association, 2025). Source

How Diners Discover Restaurants

Discovery is fragmented across word of mouth, search and review platforms, walk-by visibility, and social media. No single digital channel dominates, which means a restaurant’s marketing has to show up in several places at once.

45% of U.S. diners find new restaurants through word of mouth, the top channel in a Toast survey of 850 U.S. adults ages 21 and older fielded December 2, 2025 (Toast, 2026 report; vendor-commissioned, self-reported). 33% discover restaurants through online sources such as Yelp, Google, and Resy in the same survey. Within the online category, diners named Facebook (27%), Instagram (15%), YouTube (15%), and TikTok (14%) as the social platforms they use to find restaurants. Toast reports a margin of error of roughly plus or minus 3 to 5 percentage points at a 95% confidence interval. What this means: because word of mouth and general online search outrank any single social platform, marketing budgets concentrated on one network alone leave most discovery paths uncovered. Limitation: these figures come from a point-in-time blind survey commissioned by a restaurant technology vendor, so they reflect self-reported behavior rather than observed traffic.

Reservations and Direct Booking

When diners move from discovery to booking, they increasingly go straight to the restaurant, which raises the value of an owned website and first-party channels.

65% of U.S. diners say they book reservations directly on a restaurant’s own website rather than on third-party reservation sites like OpenTable, per a Toast blind survey of 850 U.S. adults fielded March 14, 2024 (Toast, 2025 reservation data; vendor-commissioned). What this means: an up-to-date, mobile-friendly website with a working reservation path captures demand that would otherwise route through intermediaries. Limitation: self-reported intent from a vendor-commissioned survey; actual booking mix varies by restaurant segment and market, and full-service reservation-taking restaurants are not representative of all restaurants.

Online Ordering and Delivery

Third-party delivery is now a structural channel for restaurants, and the two largest U.S. platforms disclose order and booking volumes in regulatory filings, which are the most reliable numbers in this asset.

DoorDash processed 732 million marketplace orders in Q1 2025, up 18% year over year, on Marketplace Gross Order Value of $23.1 billion, up 20% year over year (DoorDash Q1 2025 results filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, May 6, 2025). Uber’s Delivery segment reported $20.1 billion in Gross Bookings in Q4 2024, up 18% year over year (Uber Q4 and full year 2024 results, February 5, 2025). On the consumer side, 82% of U.S. adult diners said they planned to order delivery in 2025 (National Restaurant Association, 2025 State of the Industry). What this means: delivery demand is growing at double-digit rates at the platform level even as operators report softer in-restaurant traffic, so off-premises marketing and menu strategy are no longer optional. Limitation: DoorDash and Uber figures include categories beyond restaurant meals (for example grocery and retail for DoorDash), so they overstate pure restaurant-order volume; treat them as directional platform-scale indicators rather than restaurant-only counts.

Social Media and Review Influence

Social platforms and review sites shape which restaurants diners try, but the strongest cross-industry figures on social influence come from vendor and aggregator sources and should be read with caution.

Facebook (27%), Instagram (15%), YouTube (15%), and TikTok (14%) are the social channels U.S. diners named for restaurant discovery in the December 2025 Toast survey (Toast, 2026; vendor-commissioned). In a separate DoorDash-commissioned 2025 survey, consumers ranked Instagram (22%), Facebook (19%), TikTok (18%), and YouTube (16%) as their top social channels for finding new restaurants, with Gen Z favoring TikTok, Millennials Instagram, and older cohorts Facebook (DoorDash 2025 Delivery Trends Report; vendor-commissioned, self-reported). What this means: platform preference splits sharply by generation, so channel choice should follow a restaurant’s target age mix rather than a single default. Limitation: the Toast and DoorDash rankings differ because they used different survey panels, question wording, and dates, so the two lists are not directly comparable; both are self-reported and vendor-commissioned.

Loyalty Programs

Loyalty is one of the clearest ROI stories in restaurant marketing, with both operators and consumers reporting that programs change behavior.

70% of U.S. operators with a loyalty program say it helped boost customer traffic (National Restaurant Association, 2025 State of the Industry). 61% of delivery customers, 54% of quick-service patrons, and 41% of table-service diners say loyalty membership influences where they choose to eat (National Restaurant Association, 2025). What this means: loyalty programs have the strongest measured effect in delivery and quick-service, where transactions are frequent and app-driven, and a weaker but still material effect in full-service. Limitation: operator responses are self-assessments of program impact rather than controlled measurement, so they may overstate causation.

Digital Marketing and Technology Adoption

Operators are concentrating investment in digital ordering, payments, loyalty, and targeted marketing, and the association frames these as engagement tools rather than back-office upgrades.

The National Restaurant Association’s 2025 State of the Industry identifies digital ordering and payments, loyalty programs, automation, and targeted marketing as the priority investment areas operators are using to strengthen guest engagement (NRA, 2025). Three-quarters of delivery customers value tech-enabled ordering and payments, per the same report. What this means: the marketing stack and the operations stack are converging, since first-party apps and digital ordering double as data-collection and retargeting channels. Limitation: the association reports investment priorities and consumer preferences rather than realized adoption rates or spend, so these describe direction, not the current installed base.

Market Size and Forecasts

Restaurant marketing operates against a large but slow-growing top line, and most 2026 growth is priced in rather than driven by more visits.

Total U.S. restaurant and foodservice sales are projected at $1.5 trillion in 2025 (National Restaurant Association, 2025). Sales are projected to reach $1.55 trillion in 2026, a 4.8% nominal increase, though much of that gain reflects menu pricing rather than added traffic, leaving inflation-adjusted growth near 1% (National Restaurant Association, 2026 State of the Industry). 61% of operators reported that traffic declined between 2023 and 2024 (NRA, 2025). What this means: with real growth flat and traffic soft, marketing that wins share from competitors and drives repeat visits matters more than marketing that rides overall category expansion. Limitation: NRA sales figures are projections that blend survey data with economic modeling and are revised over time.

Original Synthesis

The following three insights are derived by combining the verified public figures above. Each states its formula, inputs, and limitations, and none should be read as precise measurement.

1. Discovery channel concentration index

Formula: sum of the top four social discovery shares reported by Toast (Facebook 27% + Instagram 15% + YouTube 15% + TikTok 14% = 71%) compared against the single largest overall channel, word of mouth at 45%. Inputs: Toast 2026 report (December 2025 survey). Insight: even when the four leading social platforms are combined, they collectively describe how diners split their social discovery, yet word of mouth alone still leads any individual channel, which quantifies why single-platform strategies underperform. Limitation: the social shares are a within-category split and are not additive with the 45% and 33% top-line channel figures, so this is a structural comparison, not a probability sum.

2. Platform order-scale ratio (DoorDash vs Uber Delivery)

Formula: DoorDash Q1 2025 Marketplace GOV ($23.1 billion) divided by Uber Q4 2024 Delivery Gross Bookings ($20.1 billion) yields a ratio of about 1.15. Inputs: DoorDash Q1 2025 SEC filing; Uber Q4 2024 results. Insight: on the most recent disclosed quarters, DoorDash’s marketplace booking value ran roughly 15% ahead of Uber’s global Delivery bookings, indicating DoorDash’s lead in raw booking scale. Limitation: the two figures cover different quarters (Q1 2025 vs Q4 2024) and different geographic and category mixes (Uber Delivery is global and DoorDash marketplace includes non-restaurant categories), so the ratio is indicative only and not a like-for-like market-share measure.

3. Loyalty influence gradient by channel

Formula: compare loyalty-influence shares across channels using NRA 2025 figures: delivery 61%, quick-service 54%, table-service 41%. The delivery-to-table-service gap is 20 percentage points. Inputs: National Restaurant Association 2025 State of the Industry. Insight: loyalty influence falls as the dining occasion becomes less frequent and less app-mediated, so the marketing payback on loyalty investment is highest for delivery and quick-service operators and lowest for full-service. Limitation: these are self-reported consumer attributions from a single association survey and do not isolate loyalty from confounding factors like price or convenience.

Data Tables

Table 1: Third-party delivery platform scale (most recent disclosed quarters)

Sources: DoorDash Q1 2025 results, SEC filing, May 2025; Uber Q4 and full year 2024 results, February 2025. Note: figures include non-restaurant categories and cover different quarters.

Table 2: How U.S. diners discover restaurants (Toast, December 2025 survey)

Source: Toast, 2026 report, blind survey of 850 U.S. adults 21+, fielded December 2, 2025; vendor-commissioned, self-reported. Social percentages are a sub-share within online discovery and are not additive with the top-line channel shares.

Table 3: Loyalty program influence on where diners eat (NRA, 2025)

Source: National Restaurant Association, 2025 State of the Restaurant Industry.

Table 4: U.S. restaurant and foodservice sales projections

Sources: National Restaurant Association 2025 and 2026 State of the Industry reports. 2026 real growth is estimated near 1% after menu pricing.

Charts to build

• Chart 1, “Restaurant discovery is fragmented”: stacked or grouped bar of Toast discovery shares (word of mouth 45%, online 33%, social sub-shares). Data: Toast 2026 survey. Insight: no single digital channel rivals word of mouth. Citation-worthy because it quantifies channel fragmentation with a named methodology.
• Chart 2, “Delivery platform scale”: grouped bar of DoorDash orders and GOV versus Uber Delivery Gross Bookings. Data: DoorDash Q1 2025 and Uber Q4 2024 filings. Insight: platform-level delivery demand keeps growing double digits. Citation-worthy because inputs are audited financial disclosures.
• Chart 3, “Loyalty influence gradient”: descending bar across delivery, quick-service, and table-service. Data: NRA 2025. Insight: loyalty payback is highest in high-frequency channels. Citation-worthy because it isolates a clean, association-sourced gradient.
• Chart 4, “Social platform preference by source”: side-by-side bars of Toast versus DoorDash social channel rankings. Data: Toast 2026 and DoorDash 2025. Insight: rankings diverge by survey, underscoring methodology sensitivity. Citation-worthy as a caution against treating any single ranking as definitive.
• Chart 5, “Sales up, traffic soft”: dual series of projected sales (2025 to 2026) against the 61% of operators reporting 2023 to 2024 traffic decline. Data: NRA 2025 and 2026. Insight: growth is priced, not visited. Citation-worthy for framing marketing strategy around share and repeat visits.

Methodology

Source selection prioritized primary disclosures and official bodies: audited financial filings from DoorDash and Uber submitted to the SEC, and the National Restaurant Association’s annual State of the Restaurant Industry reports. Vendor consumer surveys from Toast and DoorDash were included only where the publisher disclosed sample size, audience, and field dates, and every such figure is flagged as vendor-commissioned and self-reported. Aggregator blog statistics that lacked a traceable primary source were excluded, including widely circulated claims that “92% of diners read reviews” or “60% use Instagram to find restaurants,” because a verifiable original study and methodology could not be confirmed. Where two sources disagreed (for example Toast and DoorDash social channel rankings), both were presented with an explicit note that panels, wording, and dates differ so the figures are not directly comparable. No numbers were invented, estimated, or rounded beyond the publisher’s own reporting. Derived insights in the Original Synthesis section combine only cited figures and state their limitations. Last updated July 2026.

Source Quality

Tier 1 (primary, official bodies, regulatory filings): DoorDash Q1 2025 results filed with the SEC; Uber Q4 and full year 2024 results; National Restaurant Association 2025 and 2026 State of the Restaurant Industry reports (industry association primary research).

Tier 2 (credible vendor and trade research, public-company data): Toast 2026 discovery report and 2025 reservation data; DoorDash 2025 Delivery Trends Report. These are methodologically disclosed but vendor-commissioned and self-reported.

Tier 3 (reputable trade journalism used only to locate and corroborate primary data): Restaurant Dive, PR Newswire distribution of NRA releases.

Most Quotable Statistics

• “45% of U.S. diners still discover restaurants through word of mouth, more than any single digital channel” (Toast, 2026).
• “65% of diners book reservations directly on a restaurant’s own website” (Toast, 2025).
• “DoorDash processed 732 million marketplace orders in a single quarter, Q1 2025” (DoorDash, SEC filing).
• “70% of operators with a loyalty program say it boosted customer traffic” (National Restaurant Association, 2025).
• “U.S. restaurant sales are set to reach $1.55 trillion in 2026, but most of that growth is menu pricing, not more visits” (National Restaurant Association, 2026).

Data Limitations

Vendor consumer surveys (Toast, DoorDash) are self-reported, point-in-time, and fielded by companies that sell to restaurants, so they may reflect favorable framing and cannot be treated as observed behavior. DoorDash and Uber platform figures include non-restaurant categories and cover different quarters, so cross-platform comparisons are directional only. NRA sales and employment numbers are projections that are revised over time. Several commonly cited restaurant social and review statistics were excluded because their original studies could not be verified. Generational and segment breakdowns come from single surveys and should not be generalized beyond their samples.

Recommended Dataset Fields

For a downloadable CSV, use: statistic_label; value; unit; segment_or_channel; geography; time_period; publisher; report_name; source_url; source_tier; is_vendor_commissioned; is_self_reported; sample_size; field_date; margin_of_error; notes_and_limitations.

Press Summary

Restaurant marketing in 2026 runs on fragmented discovery and platform-scale delivery. Word of mouth still leads restaurant discovery at 45% of U.S. diners, with general online search at 33% and social platforms splitting the remainder, according to a December 2025 Toast survey. When diners book, 65% go straight to the restaurant’s own website rather than third-party reservation sites. Delivery keeps expanding at the platform level: DoorDash logged 732 million marketplace orders in Q1 2025 and Uber’s Delivery bookings hit $20.1 billion in Q4 2024, both up 18% year over year in regulatory filings. Loyalty programs show clear payback, with 70% of operators saying they lifted traffic. Yet the top line tells operators to fight for share, not ride growth: the National Restaurant Association projects $1.55 trillion in 2026 sales, up 4.8% nominally but only about 1% after menu pricing, while 61% of operators reported softer traffic between 2023 and 2024. Vendor survey figures are self-reported and flagged accordingly.

Suggested Headlines

• Word of Mouth Still Beats Every App: 45% of Diners Discover Restaurants Offline
• 65% of Diners Book Direct: Why the Restaurant Website Is Winning Reservations
• 732 Million Orders in One Quarter: DoorDash’s 2025 Delivery Scale, in Filings
• Loyalty Pays Off: 70% of Operators Say Rewards Programs Boost Traffic
• $1.55 Trillion but Flat Traffic: The 2026 Restaurant Marketing Reality

FAQ

How do most diners discover new restaurants in 2026?

Word of mouth leads at 45% of U.S. diners, followed by online sources like Yelp, Google, and Resy at 33% (Toast, 2026 report, December 2025 survey of 850 U.S. adults; vendor-commissioned).

Which social media platform is best for restaurant discovery?

It depends on the source and audience: Toast’s December 2025 survey ranked Facebook highest at 27% among social channels, while DoorDash’s 2025 survey put Instagram first at 22%, with Gen Z favoring TikTok (Toast, 2026; DoorDash, 2025; both vendor-commissioned).

Do diners book reservations through the restaurant or third-party sites?

65% of U.S. diners say they book directly on the restaurant’s own website rather than sites like OpenTable (Toast, 2025 reservation data, March 2024 survey).

How large is restaurant delivery demand?

DoorDash processed 732 million marketplace orders in Q1 2025 and Uber’s Delivery segment booked $20.1 billion in Q4 2024, both up 18% year over year (DoorDash Q1 2025 SEC filing; Uber Q4 2024 results).

Do loyalty programs actually drive traffic?

70% of U.S. operators with a loyalty program say it helped boost customer traffic (National Restaurant Association, 2025 State of the Industry).

Which diners are most influenced by loyalty programs?

Delivery customers are most influenced at 61%, followed by quick-service patrons at 54% and table-service diners at 41% (National Restaurant Association, 2025).

What share of diners plan to use delivery?

82% of U.S. adult diners planned to order delivery in 2025 (National Restaurant Association, 2025 State of the Industry).

How big is the U.S. restaurant industry?

Total U.S. restaurant and foodservice sales are projected at $1.5 trillion in 2025 and $1.55 trillion in 2026 (National Restaurant Association, 2025 and 2026 reports).

Is restaurant traffic growing?

No: 61% of U.S. operators reported that traffic declined between 2023 and 2024, and 2026 real sales growth is projected near 1% after menu pricing (National Restaurant Association, 2025 and 2026).

Where are operators investing in marketing technology?

The National Restaurant Association’s 2025 report identifies digital ordering and payments, loyalty programs, automation, and targeted marketing as the priority investment areas for guest engagement (NRA, 2025).

About this research

This asset was compiled by CO Consulting, a research-driven growth-consulting firm, using primary financial filings and official industry data with vendor-sourced figures clearly flagged. If your team wants help turning restaurant marketing data into a channel strategy, you can book a consultation.

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