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Diners are cutting back in ways your traffic numbers won't show you. 

The 2026 Casual Dining Panel Study report from Market Force is now available!

The 2026 Market Force Casual Dining Panel Study covers consumer loyalty, spending behavior, and competitive positioning across seven restaurant categories including Pizza, Breakfast, and Steakhouse.

Price sensitivity is reshaping what guests order, how often they visit, and which brands earn their loyalty when spending feels tight. The study gives you the insights behind the shift in consumer sentiment, broken down by restaurant type, brand, and the specific levers that drive guests to come back or walk away.

GET THE CASUAL DINING REPORT NOW →

Access the full 2026 Casual Dining Panel Study report

The Casual Dining Panel Study gives your team insights into brand-level loyalty, trust, and share of wallet rankings across dining categories, with three years of trend data from 2024 to 2026. Built for brand executives who want to benchmark their position and see where consumer expectations are heading next, you'll find:

  • Clickable charts and interactive results
  • Brand-by-brand comparisons
  • Guest behavior, value, quality, technology, and delivery service benchmarks
  • Actionable insights for CX, marketing, operations, loyalty, and digital teams

Submit the form to access the full interactive results.

Fill out the form to receive the report via email instantly:

Highlights from the study

74%
Say price increases change spending habits

The behavior change is bigger than the attitude change.

3 out of 4 casual dining consumers say price increases have changed their spending habits in 2026. More telling: 62.5% say it has changed what they order.

Guests are still showing up, they are just spending less when they do.

#1
More Promotions and offers

More promotions and better value are the top two visit drivers.

When consumers say what would bring them in more often, promotions and offers rank first, followed by better pricing and value.

Brands that rely on experience alone to drive frequency are competing at a growing disadvantage.

62%
Problem Experience prevents return

Problems are more likely to end the relationship than they were a year ago.

In 2026, 62.4% of guests who experienced a problem say it prevented their return, up from 53.7% in 2025. Meanwhile, only 37% felt their issue was resolved.

Service recovery has become one of the most underleveraged levers in casual dining loyalty.