WASHINGTON—While the recession has taken a bite out of many Americans’ expenditures, it hasn’t slowed U.S. consumers’ desire to dine out, according to results of the LivingSocial "Dining Out" survey of consumer behavior that revealed the average American eats 4.8 meals per week in restaurants or 249 total restaurant meals.
The survey of more than 4,000 Americans about eating habits, culinary choices and favorite foods was conducted by Mandala Research in August and found the most popular restaurant meal is lunch, with 2.6 eaten on average each week (both carryout and dining), followed by sit down dinners (1.4 per week) and brunch/breakfast (.8 per week).
Forty-five percent of respondents described themselves as "meat lovers," 22% as a "sweet tooth" and 19% as "fast food junkies" compared to the 18% that described themselves as "health nuts" and 5% as "vegetarians or vegans".
The “Big 4" ethnic cuisines dominate the dining scene—65% of those surveyed frequently eat Italian, followed by Mexican (62%), Chinese (59%) and Pizza (58%) more than 22 other types of cuisine included on the survey. When asked which new type of restaurant they'd most recently tried, Thai finished on top, beating out 25 other types of cuisine. Other top finishers among new cuisines tried by respondents included seafood, Sushi, Greek, BBQ and Indian.
When respondents were asked to rank their city's dining scene, New York, Chicago and San Francisco finished in the top three followed by Houston, Dallas and Washington, DC. Seattle, Sacramento and Detroit ranked the worst dining out cities in the nation.
