Restaurant foot traffic is not measured by one national counter. The clearest available indicators combine monthly restaurant sales, seated-diner reservations, and off-premises ordering. Together, these measures show a restaurant market with strong sales in 2026, rising reservation activity in 2025, and a large share of demand still occurring away from the dining room.
Table of contents
- National restaurant sales as a traffic indicator
- Monthly sales patterns in 2025 and 2026
- What the pandemic comparison shows
- Reservation-based seated-diner traffic
- Groups, experiences, and earlier dining
- The off-premises share of restaurant demand
National restaurant sales as a traffic indicator
The U.S. Census Bureau’s monthly retail and food-services series provides a broad demand measure for restaurants. It reports nominal, unadjusted sales in millions of dollars, not a direct count of people entering restaurants. Sales can therefore reflect changes in prices, order size, and channel mix as well as changes in visits. Still, the series is useful for placing restaurant foot-traffic conditions in a national context.
U.S. food services and drinking places recorded $80,204 million in sales in January 2026 and $79,616 million in February. Sales then rose to $90,251 million in March and $88,877 million in April. The series reached $96,336 million in May, followed by $91,907 million in June and $93,403 million in July. These are national monthly observations, so they describe the market broadly rather than a particular city, neighborhood, or restaurant format. Census Bureau, Estimates of Monthly Retail and Food Services Sales
Across January through July 2026, food-services sales totaled $620,594 million, compared with $596,925 million in the comparable prior-year cumulative period. The comparison indicates higher nominal sales in the 2026 period, but it should not be read as an equivalent increase in visits. The Census figures are a demand proxy, and the source does not turn these sales totals into a national restaurant footfall count.
Monthly sales patterns in 2025 and 2026
The restaurant-specific series offers a closer view of restaurants and other eating places. In 2025, reported sales were $68,104 million in January, $66,540 million in February, $78,503 million in March, $75,379 million in April, $81,523 million in May, $78,205 million in June, and $78,899 million in July. May was the highest of these seven 2025 observations, while February was the lowest. Census Bureau, Estimates of Monthly Retail and Food Services Sales
Limited-service eating places formed an important part of that 2025 pattern. The category recorded $36,093 million in January, $42,865 million in May, and $42,141 million in July. These category observations help explain why restaurant demand cannot be understood only through seated dining: limited-service sales include a format where ordering and collecting food may happen quickly, and the supplied data does not identify whether a sale represented an in-person meal, takeout, delivery, or another channel.
For readers comparing restaurants, the most useful interpretation is directional. A stronger monthly sales reading can signal more demand flowing through the restaurant sector, but it does not establish that dining-room occupancy rose by the same amount. The distinction matters especially when off-premises orders account for a large share of total traffic.
| Period | Restaurants and other eating places | Food services and drinking places |
|---|---|---|
| January 2025 | $68,104 million | — |
| May 2025 | $81,523 million | — |
| July 2025 | $78,899 million | — |
| January 2026 | — | $80,204 million |
| May 2026 | — | $96,336 million |
| July 2026 | — | $93,403 million |
The two columns are different Census categories and should not be treated as a like-for-like series. They are shown together only to make the supplied national indicators easy to locate by period. Census Bureau, Estimates of Monthly Retail and Food Services Sales
What the pandemic comparison shows
The historical observations show how sharply restaurant demand changed in early 2020 and how the sector later recovered. Restaurants and other eating places recorded $48,358 million in January 2019, $57,211 million in May 2019, and $57,467 million in August 2019. These provide seasonal pre-pandemic comparison points in the Census series. Census Bureau, Estimates of Monthly Retail and Food Services Sales
Sales fell to $40,907 million in March 2020 and $26,964 million in April 2020 as pandemic restrictions disrupted restaurant demand. May 2020 recorded $38,777 million, and August 2020 reached $50,954 million. The August observation was above April’s low but below the $57,467 million recorded in August 2019. This sequence captures a disruption and partial recovery, while leaving the exact number of visits unmeasured.
January 2021 recorded $47,076 million, below the $48,358 million recorded in January 2019. By June 2021, restaurants and other eating places recorded $62,929 million, above the $47,051 million recorded in June 2020. Because these are nominal sales observations, the historical comparisons should remain tied to their stated months and should not be relabeled as current conditions. The Census source is a sales series, not a direct foot-traffic study.
Reservation-based seated-diner traffic
OpenTable supplies a different lens: seated-diner volume on its platform. In its U.S. platform comparison, seated-diner volume rose 8% year over year for January 1 through August 31, 2025, compared with January 3 through September 1, 2024. This is a reservation-based measure from active OpenTable restaurants, not a count of all restaurant visits in the United States. OpenTable, 2026 Dining Trends Report
OpenTable’s consumer research also points to continuing dining-out intent. In a September 2025 survey about 2026, Americans said they planned to dine out 10 times per month on average. Fifty-five percent said they would spend more on restaurants in 2026, while 61% said dining out would feel more like a special occasion than an everyday occurrence. These are survey responses and a forecast of intended behavior, not observed transaction totals.
The same research found a higher planned frequency among millennials: 14 dining-out occasions per month on average. Seventy-nine percent of surveyed millennials said a restaurant’s Instagram or TikTok worthiness mattered when deciding where to dine in 2026. The result connects restaurant discovery and occasion planning with digital presentation, but it does not measure how many people ultimately visited a restaurant.
Groups, experiences, and earlier dining
The OpenTable platform comparison shows several changes in the types of reservations being made. Group dining was up 11% year over year for January 1 through August 31, 2025, compared with January 3 through September 1, 2024. Forty percent of surveyed Americans said they would rather eat with a group than dine solo in 2026. Group reservations and survey preferences measure different things, so they should be read separately: one is platform activity and the other is stated preference. OpenTable, 2026 Dining Trends Report
Experiential dining on OpenTable was up 46% year over year in the same platform comparison. OpenTable restaurants offered 34% more pop-ups, collaborations, and chef’s tables in that comparison period. In the survey, 48% of Americans said they were more likely to book a restaurant when it offered something unique to experience. These figures support a specific interpretation of restaurant traffic: some seated demand may be connected to occasions and experiences rather than routine meals. They do not establish that all restaurants experienced the same increase.
Earlier dining also appears in the reservation data. Reservations for 4:00–4:59 p.m. happy-hour dining were up 13% year over year in the stated 2025 comparison. OpenTable’s Notify Me tool usage increased 84% year over year in the same U.S. platform analysis. Notify Me usage indicates interest in finding a table when a preferred reservation is unavailable; it is not itself a completed visit. These platform measures are best used as signals of reservation behavior, not as a substitute for comprehensive entrance counts.
The off-premises share of restaurant demand
The National Restaurant Association reported that nearly 75% of all restaurant traffic occurred off premises in its 2025 report. That finding is central to interpreting the phrase “foot traffic”: a large amount of restaurant demand may involve pickup, delivery, drive-thru, or another off-premises handoff rather than a seated visit. National Restaurant Association, From Trend to Transformation
The report found that 58% of limited-service operators said off-premises dining represented a larger share of sales than in 2019. The comparable figure for full-service operators was 41%. About 66% of Gen Z and millennial consumers said takeout was essential to their lifestyle, and nearly 60% used takeout or drive-thru at least weekly. More than 60% said they ordered off premises more often than a year earlier. These percentages describe the specified consumer groups and should not be generalized to every diner.
Weekly behavior was also reported across adults. Forty-seven percent of adults picked up restaurant, coffee-shop, snack-place, or deli takeout at least once a week; 42% used a restaurant drive-thru at least once a week; and 37% ordered restaurant delivery at least once a week. Value deals resonated with about 80% of delivery, takeout, and drive-thru customers. National Restaurant Association, Off-Premises Restaurant Trends 2025
Mobile ordering is another route through which demand can bypass the dining room. Fifty-seven percent of adults had recently used mobile ordering, compared with 74% of millennials and 65% of Gen Z adults. The National Restaurant Association also reported that 65% of limited-service operators offered delivery. For full-service operators, 43% expected curbside pickup to become more common in 2025, 31% expected dedicated takeout counters to become more common, and 12% expected more drive-thru lanes. Those operator figures are expectations for 2025, not measured outcomes.
Rural access matters in the off-premises picture: 67% of rural consumers said they wished they had more takeout options. The combination of weekly pickup, drive-thru, delivery, mobile ordering, and operator investment shows why restaurant demand should be tracked across channels. National sales can indicate the scale of the market, OpenTable can indicate reservation-based seated activity, and off-premises research can show how much restaurant use happens without a dining-room visit.