Restaurant Sales – DC – November 2021

The Great Thanksgiving Spike of 2021

Things are looking better and better despite the ongoing labor and supply chain shortages, and November was no exception.

While Delivery rates both in the DMV and nationally showed a sharp increase, that trend is to be expected for this time of year with worsening weather and home-cooked family gatherings keeping people at home. Monthly weighted averages showed Full Service inching its way up and ending at -2.09%, its highest weighted sales percentage since the pandemic. Fast Casual continued to increase to 3.52%, also the highest we’ve seen yet.

Now to address the elephant (or in this case turkey) in the room: the great Fast Casual spike of 2021. While sales were up for everyone around Thanksgiving, a group of take-home and pre-made Fast Casual eateries absolutely smashed it. November 24th alone clocked DMV Fast Casual restaurants at 77% YO2Y sales compared to 2019!

It appears that while people are having at-home family gatherings, many still felt that pandemic fatigue and didn’t want to cook for themselves (who can blame them?). We’re looking forward to seeing if the spike continues over the Christmas holiday as well.

We are keeping our fingers lightly crossed with more news about the Omicron variant sure to impact dine-in sales, but we hope November’s trends are a sign of even better things to come for December and the holiday season!

About these metrics: The MarginEdge monthly snapshot of DC Metro restaurant sales is based on a sampling of 300+ area restaurants ranging from fast-casual to full-service.