Corporate travelers are spending more on business meals
Spending on business meals has increased in the past year, with fine dining showing the greatest demand.
Figures show 11% of corporate travelers had at least one business meal a week during October, compared to 9% a year ago.
The average number of business-related meals per week was 3.0 in October 2013, a slight decline compared to 3.3 in October 2012.
However, the larger number of people ordering business meals more than offsets the lower average number of meals per person, so the total number of business-related meals is up slightly over this period.
Spending per business meal rose substantially over the same period, with average total spending on business meals at $55 per week in October 2013, compared with $45 in October 2012.
This translates to an average check per business meal of about $18.50 in October 2013 compared with $13.50 last year.
A substantial portion of this improvement in check size was driven by a higher degree of trade-up to fine dining among business-meal customers.
In October 2013, 42% of business-meal customers visited a fine-dining restaurant once a week or more compared with just 34% in October 2012.
Over the same time the number of business-meal customers who visit casual-dining restaurants once a week or more also increased, rising from 48% last year to 53% this year, but not as big an increase as seen for the fine-dining segment.
Restaurant customers with business-meals are far more likely to visit fine-dining restaurants once per week (42%) than customers with no business meals (5%).
Restaurant customers with business-meals are also much more likely to visit casual-dining restaurants once per week or more (53%) than customers with no business meals (20%).
This means the average weekly spending on restaurants of customers with business meals is about $122, compared to just $41 for those with no business meals.
"A higher-spending business meal customer is a very welcome development for the high-end but also the middle tier of the restaurant industry" said David Decker, president of Consumer Edge Insight, which carried out the research.
"For fine-dining restaurants, one of their core customer segments is starting to visit restaurants more often and is more likely to be trading up to fine-dining than a year ago.
"While this is a smaller customer segment for most casual-dining restaurants in terms of traffic, the higher average spending among this group makes them an important segment to understand and target as much as possible given your brand."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
In Italy, the Meloni government congratulates itself for its tourism achievements
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive