Fast Food. Yum.

July 29th, 2008  |  Published in Factoids, Stump the Researcher, demographics

“With the average American spending $500 a year on fast food, the industry clearly plays a major part in the country’s economy and we felt that our clients would benefit from gaining an in-depth understanding of this segment which is a large part of consumers’ lives,” said Alexander Kleijngeld, Research International, vice president-client services.

Some of the major findings from the study include:

• Over half of the population eats fast food once a week with 20 percent eating fast food at least every other day.
• Fourteen percent of the population accounts for almost half of all fast food sales. These high frequency users tend to be male, below middle-age and employed with high incomes.
• High-frequency users have an average income of $67,575 which is 15 percent higher than the sample group’s average household income of $58,875.
• Despite their above-average incomes, high frequency users are more likely to increase fast food consumption because of economic pressure and are attracted to “value” dining options.
• Subway earned the highest Brand Energy score which measures how strong a brand is the minds of consumers. This score is a composite of four dimensions: Status and Momentum: strong brands not only perform well today (Status) but are also seen as continuously evolving and improving/innovating (Momentum); Affinity and Performance: strong brands not only offer a great experience functionally (Performance) but consumers also have an emotional bond with them (Affinity).
• Frequent users are attracted to restaurants that have new menu options or promotions and react positively to healthy food choices that are in tune with a restaurant’s efforts to improve the healthiness of their menu.
• More than half the country (57 percent) has been to McDonald’s in the past month followed by Subway (37 percent), Burger King (36 percent), Taco Bell (33 percent), Wendy’s (32 percent) and KFC (27 percent).
• Convenience is the main reason consumers choose a fast-food dining option.

Did that say $500 a year? Per person? Yikes.

AND

Over half of all Americans eat fast food at least once a week (20 percent eat it every other day) and nearly 60 percent of us went to a McDonald’s in the past month.

We also learned that (as is common in most businesses) a small percentage of customers account for most of the sales. Almost 50 percent of all fast food sales come from 14 percent of consumers. And these aren’t who you’d expect. They have an average income of $68,000 and, though young-ish, they aren’t teens and college kids.

What markets are consuming the most fast food? According to MRI’s Market-by-Market study:

1.Lafayette, Ind. (Hi Kathy B.!)
2.Rochester, Minn./Mason City, Iowa (think it’s because of Mayo Clinic?)
3.Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Iowa City/Dubuque, Iowa
4.Detroit
5.St. Joseph, Mo.
6.Omaha, Neb. (Hello WG and Sara and Kevin and…)
7.Champaign/Springfield/Decatur, Ill. (Lori – you there?)
8.South Bend/Elkhart, Ind.
9.Columbus, Ohio
10.Cleveland/Akron (Canton), Ohio (Hey EK!)

Another interesting finding. People actually turn more frequently to fast food when the economy is less than optimal. So yay to all you in the biz!