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In 2024, many inflation-squeezed consumers looked to budget-dining options or simply ate more meals at home. How did full-service chains Chili’s and Texas Roadhouse drive foot traffic in such a challenging macroeconomic environment? We dove into the data to find out.
In 2024, value was a key ingredient in Chili’s and Texas Roadhouses’ recipes for success – although each chain used a different strategy to communicate its affordability to consumers.
Chili’s leaned into budget-friendly meal deals in 2024. The chain’s rebooted 3 For Me value menu drove significant traffic in Q2 2024 (9.7% visit growth YoY), and visits skyrocketed again in the fall, due in part to the viral Fried Mozzarella appetizer, part of a Triple Dipper deal, and the promotional $6 “Witches Brew” margarita – propelling the chain to 23.0% YoY visit growth in Q4 2024.
Texas Roadhouse, on the other hand, doesn’t run promotions – and instead relies on its already strong value perception to drive traffic when budgets are tight. But the chain’s consistent YoY visit growth (7.2% in 2024) was also likely due to its growing real estate footprint: over 30 new locations that are approximately 10% larger than previous builds, allowing for higher guest volumes.
Chili’s and Texas Roadhouse’s value perception appears to attract many consumers from lower-income households – but the chains drive traffic from diners with slightly more discretionary income as well.
Diving into the demographic characteristics of visitors revealed that in 2024, Chili’s and Texas Roadhouse received a smaller share of visits from the households earning over $100K/year compared to the nationwide distribution. (Texas Roadhouse served a slightly smaller share of these households, likely due to its smaller market strategy.) At the same time, both chains drove a larger share of traffic from households earning less than $50K/year and between $50K and $100K/year, compared to the nationwide distribution. This suggests that Chili's and Texas Roadhouse visitors are likely seeking value for money, but a significant share have more discretionary income to spend on higher-priced items – like top-shelf margaritas and steaks – than the average U.S. consumer.
As Chili’s and Texas Roadhouse continue investing in innovations and technological solutions to improve efficiency and customer experience, the chains are likely to continue attracting visitors looking to get the most bang for their dining bucks in 2025.
Chili’s and Texas Roadhouse may attract visitors from a similar demographic, but analysis of the markets in which the chains drive the most visits reveals several distinct regional preferences among dining consumers nationwide.
In 2024, Texas Roadhouse received a greater share of visits in a majority of Midwest and Mid-Atlantic CBSAs – consistent with a smaller market strategy – while Chili's drove a greater share of visits in denser markets and a majority of the CBSAs in California, Texas, and Florida.
But despite these regional differences, the chains received a near-even share of visits. Texas Roadhouse, with 675 U.S. locations, claimed 51.2% of visits to both chains, while Chili’s with over 1200 locations claimed 48.8% of the chains’ combined visits.
Chili’s and Texas Roadhouse have found success by providing value for money that sets them apart from other full-service chains. Yet, both chains drive an above-average share of high-income traffic, indicating that they are winning with value-conscious consumers with the means to indulge.
For more data-driven dining insights, visit Placer.ai.
College students often have to count their pennies – but they also know how to have a good time and are willing to pony up for things that matter to them. So with spring semester underway, we dove into the data to explore collegiate dining habits in the University City district of Philadelphia, PA – home to the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, as well as several smaller schools. How does the campus vibe impact visitation trends at local convenience stores and restaurants?
We dove into the data to find out.
Wawa – famous for low prices and round-the-clock service – is the perfect place to grab a sandwich to fuel an all-night study session or a cup of coffee on the go. And the University City Wawa at 3724-2744 Spruce Street is a local landmark, serving everyone from students and university employees to other area residents.
Analyzing visitation patterns at the Spruce Street Wawa shows that the store’s visitation patterns mirror the rhythms of campus life – with an uptick in late-night visits and fewer early-morning ones. Between September and December 2024, for example, some 8.7% of visits to the Spruce Street location took place between midnight and 3:00 AM – far exceeding the chainwide average of 3.8%. Meanwhile, visits during the early morning hours (6:00 AM to 9:00 AM) remained subdued – a trend consistent with the typical university lifestyle. And while the average Wawa’s traffic peaked during lunchtime, the Spruce Street location peaked between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM – prime afternoon snack time.
Examining the Spruce Street Wawa’s captured market – i.e. the census block groups (CBGs) feeding visits to the store, weighted to reflect the share of visits from each CBG – shows that it is indeed college students driving the location’s late-night activity. Between September and December 2024, 63.3% of the Spruce Street Wawa’s captured market during the 12:00 AM - 3:00 AM daypart was made up of STI:Landscape’s “Collegian” segment – a group encompassing currently-enrolled college students living in dorms or off campus. By 3:00 AM, this share dropped to 12.2%, before bottoming out at 10.1% between 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM – unthinkably early for many undergrads. The share of “Collegians” then began to climb back upwards, reaching just over 50.0% in the evening.
Of course, Wawa isn’t the only local dining spot to benefit from student patronage. Local favorites – from the full-service White Dog Cafe in University City to the quick-serve Kiwi Yogurt on Chestnut St. – also attract plenty of undergrads.
But while Kiwi Yogurt stands out as a key weekday attraction for busy students, White Dog Cafe is more of a weekend destination. On Mondays through Fridays, the share of “Collegians” in Kiwi Yogurt’s captured market stood at 36.4%, dropping to 22.6% on weekends. Meanwhile, White Dog Cafe experienced an opposite trend, with the share of “Collegians” increasing on weekends (36.7%) and declining during the week (24.5%).
Whether it’s a late-night Wawa hoagie run or a weekend brunch at White Dog Cafe, even skint college students can find room in their budgets for convenient snacks and fun outings with friends – funneling steady foot traffic to local restaurants, cafes, and stores.
How will student dining trends continue to evolve in 2025?
Follow Placer.ai to find out.
Looking at the discretionary categories that outperformed this holiday season, we may be on the cusp of a new trend heading into 2025: reinvention. Our data highlights that home furnishings, beauty, and apparel were among the top-performing discretionary retail categories in terms of year-over-year visits during November and December, as shown below.
The performance of these three categories is notable for different reasons. After significant declines earlier in the year, the home furnishings category rebounded strongly. As discussed in November, this recovery was supported by strength in the housewares category and mattress retailers. Housewares retail has generally outperformed home furnishings over the past few years – a trend partly attributed to increased out-of-home entertaining. While purchasing gifts for hosts likely drive visits for some home furnishing retailers, we may now be entering a replacement cycle for many home furnishing products purchased during the pandemic, which could further support the category’s recovery. In other words, many consumers may be looking to reinvent their personal spaces starting with their homes.
The strength in beauty and apparel may reflect a broader trend of personal reinvention. What fueled this movement? It could be as simple as buying a new outfit for a holiday party or experimenting with seasonal beauty products. However, several apparel retailers we spoke to over the past few months pointed to additional factors, including health and wellness trends. 2024 saw a rise in in-person workouts (one of the strongest retail categories in year-over-year visitation), greater adoption of technology-driven fitness and wellness routines, and increased use of wellness supplements and GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro. Retailers noted that healthier lifestyles during 2024 drove increased demand for apparel this holiday season—a trend that could have substantial implications for the year ahead.
Overall food-away-from-home spending grew in 2024, driven by decelerating inflation and a robust economy that eased budgetary concerns. How did coffee chains, one of the largest discretionary food categories, perform?
We took a closer look at foot traffic to Starbucks and Dunkin’ to find out.
Despite the ongoing consumer uncertainty, 2024 visits to Starbucks and Dunkin’ remained close to 2023 levels. The traffic trends range from 2.9% down year-over-year (YoY) to 1.9% up YoY for Starbucks, and from 1.3% down to 1.9% up YoY for Dunkin’ – a testament to coffee’s enduring draw.
While the YoY visit patterns to Starbucks and Dunkin’ were relatively similar in 2024, the two chains experienced distinct visitation patterns throughout the day. During the early morning daypart (6:00 - 9:59 AM), Dunkin’ attracted 39.9% of its visitors, while Starbucks received only 29.9% of its customers before 10 AM. However, as the day transitioned into evening, Starbucks took the lead, capturing 23.7% of visitors during the 3:00 - 6:59 PM daypart, significantly higher than Dunkin’s 16.4%.
These visitation patterns highlight distinct opportunities for both chains to expand their appeal across different dayparts. Dunkin’ could offer afternoon specials to attract more visitors in the afternoon and evening daypart, and Starbucks could broaden its breakfast offerings to capture a larger share of the early morning crowd.
A closer look at Starbucks’ daily visitation patterns highlights the chain’s mastery in leveraging calendar events and special promotions to boost foot traffic. Events like Red Cup Day and buy-one-get-one-free (BOGO) deals, including on Mother’s Day, drove impressive visits bumps ranging from 28.1% to 40.4% higher than the 2024 daily visit average.
These promotions appear to have been so successful that Starbucks, under the leadership of new C.E.O. Brian Niccol, announced it would scale them back – in part to restore the chain’s “coffeehouse roots” and avoid over-crowded stores on promotion days. But even without special discounts in the last five weeks of the year, Starbucks still received major traffic spikes on key shopping days like Super Saturday and Black Friday, with visits surging 27.5% and 26.6% above the YTD daily average, respectively. This highlights the brand’s ability to drive strong performance even with fewer promotions during peak seasons.
As part of the effort to elevate the in-store experience, Starbucks has also announced plans to implement a code of conduct, with the goal of facilitating the creation of an “inviting and welcoming community coffeehouse.” One significant shift, coming into effect on January 27th, bars people from lingering in its facilities without making a purchase.
A closer look at dwell time for the chain reveals that the vast majority of visits to the chain are currently less than 10 minutes long, with mobile orders making up almost a third of total Starbucks orders. The predominance of short visits and the popularity of mobile orders indicates that many Starbucks customers likely prioritize convenience, and prefer to grab a drink to go without taking advantage of the coffeehouse amenities. But with new incentives – including a free refill policy for all customers, not just loyalty club members – dwell times may well go up over the coming months.
Starbucks and Dunkin’ continued serving coffee drinkers in 2024, despite the ongoing constraints on many consumers' discretionary spending budgets.
Will Starbucks and Dunkin’ continue to drive visits into 2025? Visit Placer.ai for the latest data-driven dining insights.
Placer.ai observes a panel of mobile devices in order to extrapolate and generate visitation insights for a variety of locations across the U.S. This panel covers only visitors from within the United States and does not represent or take into account international visitors.
The end of the year is a time of bustling activity as many Americans travel to visit family and friends, go on vacation, and enjoy recreational attractions. Using the latest location analytics for transportation hubs, hotels, museums, and aquariums, we uncover key trends in consumer behavior during the holiday season.
The end of the year was a busy travel period as consumers visited family and friends or headed out on vacation. Between December 18th and December 23rd, visits to major airports and ground transportation hubs (train and bus stations) were higher than the 2024 same-day average, with visits to both ground and air travel hubs peaking on Super Saturday (December 21st).
Visits to transportation hubs then fell on December 24th and 25th 2024 – although the drop was much more dramatic for airports than for train and bus stations – as many people stayed in place for the duration of the holiday.
Visits to transportation hubs remained slightly below the same-day yearly average on Boxing Day, December 26th, 2024 – although traffic to both airports and ground transportation hubs increased compared to the Christmas lull, as some travelers began to make their return trips. But starting on December 27th, traffic trends for the two types of transportation hubs began to diverge: visits to ground transportation hubs were above average same-day levels, whereas airport visit levels remained below average until the following day, December 28th, 2024. This could indicate that air travelers, who may spend more on transportation or travel greater distances, stay longer at their destination to make the journey worthwhile.
Although ground transportation hubs and airports experienced elevated traffic over the majority of the holiday period, the same did not appear to be the case in the hospitality space.
Between December 18th and December 29th, 2024, daily visits to almost all hotel categories – from economy to upper upscale – remained below the same-day average for 2024. The decrease in business travel during this time, coupled with the tendency for those visiting family and friends to stay with their hosts, likely accounted for this trend. Only the luxury hotel category – which doesn’t typically receive business guests – saw elevated daily visits beginning on December 22nd, 2024, likely driven by affluent holiday vacationers.
During the final days of 2024 – December 30th and 31st – all six hotel categories experienced their most robust foot traffic of the period, and most saw their visits surge above the yearly same-day average. This suggests that many consumers, traveling at various hospitality tiers, took hotel-based vacations after spending Christmas at home or at the home of a loved one.
As consumers leveraged time off in the second half of December, museums and aquariums appeared to be popular attractions.
December 23rd, 2024 saw the first visit surge of the period for museums (31.7% above the yearly same-day average) and aquariums (12.6% above the yearly same-day average), perhaps as consumers sought out activities to do with visiting guests.
Following a brief visitation lull on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, foot traffic to museums and aquariums increased again and remained elevated between December 26th through the end of the year. And both museums and aquariums saw their largest visit peaks of the period on December 30th, 2024 (106.3% and 75.2% above average, respectively), suggesting that these attractions were popular with holiday visitors and end-of-year vacationers alike.
Analysis of transportation hubs, hotels, and leisure venues reveals shifting travel patterns and consumer behaviors during the final weeks of the year. The data suggests that while ground transportation users and air travelers alike typically travel before Christmas Eve, air travelers likely prefer to spend a little extra time at their holiday destination. And although travel is an integral part of the holiday season, most hotel categories don’t see elevated visits until the last few days of the year when family affairs have concluded and vacations are in full swing. Similarly, museums and aquariums sustain elevated traffic for several days after the holiday, as consumers leverage their time off for unique experiences.
For more data-driven insights, visit Placer.ai.
About the Convention Center Index: The Placer.ai Convention Center Index analyzes foot traffic to nearly 150 major convention and conference centers across the country. It excludes resorts and stadiums.
Convention centers serve as hubs for networking, trade shows, and corporate events. But the pandemic brought in-person gatherings to a halt, with businesses pivoting to online conferences – or eschewing them altogether.
And though social-distancing and other pandemic-era restrictions have lifted, the changes in the office and business world continue to linger. With that in mind, we took a closer look at the visitation data to these centers to see how convention center traffic trends and visitor demographics have shifted since pre-pandemic.
COVID-19 profoundly disrupted in-person networking. Now, nearly five years later, its impact on business travel and corporate events still lingers as virtual and hybrid events remain popular. However, similar to the return-to-office trends Placer.ai has tracked over the past few years, convention centers are also showing signs of slow but steady recovery.
While 2024 visits to convention centers nationwide were still 11.2% lower, on average, than in pre-pandemic 2019, traffic was also 3.3% higher than in 2023 and a significant 21.3% higher than in 2022. So – while the frequency and magnitude of in-person business events are not quite back to pre-pandemic levels yet, the visit trends indicate that the convention center recovery story is still being written.
The pandemic’s impact extends beyond overall attendance numbers – diving deeper into the data also reveals shifts in when people visit convention centers. The share of weekend visits jumped from 44.5% in 2019 to 46.9% in 2022 and has remained relatively steady ever since. This suggests that convention centers may have pivoted to hosting concerts, sporting matches, and other leisure events to make up for the dip in business conferences and conventions.
Analyzing the trade areas from where convention centers draw their visits also reveals that the demographics of convention center visitors has shifted since the pandemic. The median household income (HHI) of visitors to convention centers has steadily increased each year analyzed, rising from $86.6K in 2019 to $88.4K in 2024. Similarly, visitors in 2024 were more likely to come from captured market trade areas with higher shares of the “Power Elite” segment than in 2019.
These two metrics indicate a shift in the profile of convention visitors. As virtual attendance becomes more normalized, many companies may be becoming more intentional about subsidising business travel and trade show attendance, reserving in-person events for higher-level executives, decision-makers, or industry leaders. This shift has significant implications for the industry, as convention centers may need to adapt their offerings and facilities to cater to the needs and preferences of this more specialized demographic.
The convention center space appears to be on a slow and steady recovery – and while visits may not return to their pre-pandemic highs, the share of weekend visit growth and increasing attendance of higher-profile professionals indicate that the segment is pivoting.
Will convention centers and office spaces continue to recover? Visit Placer.ai for the latest office and business foot traffic trends.
The full-service dining segment has experienced its fair share of challenges over the past few years, with pandemic-era closures, rising food and labor costs, and cutbacks in discretionary spending contributing to visit lags. In 2024, visits were down 0.2% year over year (YoY) and remained 8.4% below 2019 levels – a reflection of the significant number of venues that permanently closed over COVID and a testament to the industry's ongoing struggle to regain its pre-pandemic footing.
Yet, even in a difficult environment, some full-service restaurant (FSR) chains are thriving. These brands aren’t waiting for the industry to rebound – they're becoming trendsetters in their own right, proving that stand-out strategy is everything in a challenging market.
This white paper explores brands that are harnessing three key differentiators – fixed-price value offerings, elevated social experiences, and a laser focus on product – to drive full-service dining success in 2025.
One of the most defining trends over the past few years has been the unrelenting march of price increases. And as consumers continue to seek out ways to save, some chains are staying ahead of the pack with fixed-price value offerings that help diners squeeze out the very best bang for their buck.
Golden Corral, the all-you-can-eat buffet chain that lets kids under three eat for free, is one FSR that is benefiting from consumers’ current value orientation. Despite closing several locations in 2024, overall visits to the chain still tracked closely with 2023 levels, declining by just 0.5% – while the average number visits to each Golden Corral restaurant grew 3.8% YoY.
Golden Corral’s value proposition is resonating strongly with budget-conscious Americans eager to enjoy a wide variety of comfort foods at an affordable price. The chain’s visitors tend to come from trade areas with lower median household incomes (HHIs) than traditional full-service restaurant (FSR) diners. And these patrons are willing to travel to enjoy the chain’s value buffet offerings, many of which are situated in rural areas and may require a longer drive. In 2024, 25.2% of Golden Corral’s diners came from over 30 miles away – compared to just 19.2% for the wider FSR segment.
Golden Corral’s continued flourishing proves that in an era of rising costs, diners are willing to go the extra mile (literally) for a restaurant that delivers both quality and affordability.
Children’s party space and eatertainment destination Chuck E. Cheese has had a transformative few years. Following the retirement of its iconic animatronic band, the chain shifted its focus to a new membership model, announcing a revamped Summer of Fun pass in May 2024 – including unlimited visits over a two-month period, steep discounts on food, and up to 250 games per day. The pass proved incredibly popular, with YoY visits surging by 15.6% in May 2024, when the offer launched – a sharp turnaround from the YoY visit declines of the previous months. Recognizing the strong demand, Chuck E. Cheese extended the program year-round – and the strategy has paid off as YoY visits remained positive through the end of 2024.
A closer look at the data suggests that parents are making full use of their unlimited passes: The share of weekday visits was higher in H2 2024 than in H2 2023, likely due to families using their passes for weekday entertainment rather than reserving visits for weekends and special occasions.
At the same time, the share of repeat visitors – those frequenting the chain at least twice a month – also grew. Although these repeat visitors may not purchase additional gameplay beyond the flat fee, their more frequent on-site presence likely translates into increased sales of pizza and other menu items.
While value has been a major motivator for restaurant-goers in recent years, low prices aren’t the only drivers of FSR success. Brands offering unique experiences aimed at maximizing social interaction are also seeing outsized gains.
Though many of these more innovative venues tend to be on the more expensive side, they draw enthusiastic crowds willing to pony up for concepts that combine good food with fun social occasions. And some of the more successful ones bolster perceived value through offerings like fixed-price menus or club memberships.
Korean cuisine has been on the rise in recent years, with restaurants like Bonchon Chicken and GEN Korean BBQ House making significant waves in the dining space. Another chain drawing attention is KPOT Korean BBQ and Hot Pot, which began modestly in 2018 and has since expanded to over 150 locations nationwide.
Diners at KPOT can customize their meals by selecting from a variety of proteins, broths, sauces, and side dishes, known as banchan, while barbecuing or cooking in a hotpot at their table and sipping on the drinks from the menu’s extensive selection. And though pricier than Golden Corral, KPOT also offers an all-you-can-eat experience that lets customers squeeze the most value out of their indulgence.
Location intelligence shows that KPOT’s experiential dining model is resonating with customers: Since Q4 2019, the average number of visits to each KPOT location has risen steadily – even as the chain has grown its footprint – while the average dwell time has also increased. Indeed, rather than a quick dining stop, KPOT has become a destination for guests to linger, enjoying both food and drinks – and an interactive and social experience.
By positioning themselves as gathering places for fine wine aficionados, wine-club-focused concepts such as Postino WineCafe and Cooper’s Hawk Winery are also benefiting from today’s consumers’ emphasis on social experiences. The two upscale dining destinations offer club memberships that combine periodic wine releases with a variety of perks.
And the data suggests that the model is strongly resonating with diners. Both Postino and Cooper’s Hawk have grown their footprints over the past year, driving substantial YoY chain-wide visit increases while average visits per location grew as well – showing that the expansions and experiential offerings are meeting robust demand.
And analyzing the two chains’ captured markets shows that the wine club model enjoys broad appeal across a variety of audience segments.
Unsurprisingly, both wine clubs’ visitor bases include higher-than-average shares of affluent consumers with money to spend, including Experian: Mosaic’s “Power Elite”, “Booming with Confidence”, and “Flourishing Families” segments (the nation’s wealthiest families, as well as affluent suburban and middle-aged households). But the two chains also attract younger, more budget-conscious consumers – Postino, which has many downtown locations, is popular among “Singles and Starters”, while Cooper’s Hawk is popular among “Promising Families” - i.e. young couples with children.
The success of the two brands across various segments underscores the impact of a distinctive experience – especially when paired with a loyalty-boosting membership – in attracting today’s consumers.
Value offerings and unique experiences have the power to drive restaurant visits – but ultimately, a good meal in an inviting atmosphere is a draw in and of itself, as is shown by the success of First Watch and Firebirds Wood Fired Grill.
Breakfast-only restaurant First Watch excels at ambiance and menu innovation, changing up its offerings five times a year and striving to maintain a neighborhood feel at each of its locations.
First Watch has made a point of leaning into its strengths, eschewing discounts in favor of a consistently elevated dining experience and doubling down its strongest day part (weekend brunch), rather than trying to artificially drive up interest at other times.
And the strategy appears to be working: In 2024, visits to First Watch increased 6.6% YoY – with Saturdays and Sundays between 11:00 A.M. and 1:00 P.M. remaining its busiest dayparts by far. Visitors to First Watch also tend to linger over their meals more than at other breakfast chains – in 2024, the restaurant experienced an average dwell time of 54.9 minutes, significantly longer than the 48.7-minute average at other breakfast-focused restaurants.
By focusing on what matters most to its diners – innovative and exciting food and a welcoming atmosphere that allows patrons to enjoy their meals at a leisurely pace – First Watch is continuing to flourish.
Another chain that is growing its footprint and its audience on the strength of a menu and ambiance-focused approach is Firebirds Wood Fired Grill. The chain, known for its “polished casual” vibe and bold, unique flavors, added several new restaurants last year, leading to a 6.5% increase in overall visits. Over the same period, the average number of visits to each Firebirds location held steady – showing that the new restaurants aren’t cannibalizing existing business.
The chain’s success may rest, in part, on its locating its venues in areas rife with enthusiastic foodies. Data from Spatial.ai’s FollowGraph shows that in 2024, Firebird’s trade areas had significantly higher shares of “BBQ Lovers”, “Gourmet Burger Lovers,” and “Foodies” than the nationwide average. This suggests that Firebirds is attracting diners who prioritize the experience of eating – key for a chain that prides itself on putting good food first. The chain is also known for its welcoming decor and design – another aspect that may lead to its strong visit success.
Necessity often serves as the mother of invention, and challenging economic periods continue to spark new trends and innovations in the dining scene. From a heightened focus on value – drawing families and lower-HHI consumers willing to travel for a good deal – to the growing appeal of social dining and the timeless draw of good food – new trends are emerging to meet changing consumer expectations.
Stadiums and arenas – and the communities they call home – have a stake in cultivating engaged team fanbases eager to participate in live events. And venues and teams can employ a variety of strategies to strengthen their connection with fans and draw crowds to the stands.
In this report, we leverage location analytics and audience segmentation to uncover some of the ways that sports franchises and venues are driving engagement – attracting visitors from farther away and appealing to fans more likely to splurge on stadium fare. How does the signing of a star athlete impact arena visitor profiles? What happens to stadium visitation trends when a team’s performance improves dramatically? And how can teams and venues tailor their offerings to more effectively cater to visitor preferences?
We dove into the data to find out.
In sports, the signing of a star athlete can have a ripple effect across the organization, hometown, and league. In addition to driving up overall attendance at games, star power can impact everything from visit frequency to audience profile – and the buying power of stadium attendees.
Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami CF after decades of European play brought a foot traffic boost to Chase Stadium (formerly DRV PNK Stadium). But it also shifted the demographics of stadium visitors and increased the distance they traveled to attend a game.
At Inter Miami’s 2022 and 2023 home openers without Messi (he joined the team mid-season in 2023), only 6.4% and 5.3% of visitors to Chase Stadium came from over 250 miles away. But for the 2024 home opener with Messi on the squad, 31.3% of stadium visitors traveled more than 250 miles to attend.
The demographics of visitors at the home opener also changed with Messi on the team. Trade area data combined with the Spatial.ai: PersonaLive dataset reveals that the 2024 home opener received a smaller share of households in the “Near-Urban Diverse Families” (11.2%) and “Young Urban Singles” (7.2%) segments than the two previous years. Meanwhile, shares of “Sunset Boomers” (13.0%) and “Ultra Wealthy Families” (20.1%) increased, indicating that Messi brought an older and more affluent demographic of visitors to the stadium compared to previous years. Messi’s arrival has generated increased revenue for Inter Miami CF, Major League Soccer, and Apple TV+, which has exclusive streaming rights for MLS games. And an influx of affluent out-of-town visitors also has the potential to drive positive outcomes for tourism and employment in the Miami area.
Caitlin Clark’s WNBA debut was another star-powered game changer – this time for women’s basketball. After dazzling the sports world during her college basketball career, Caitlin Clark was drafted first overall to the Indiana Fever before the 2024 WNBA season. The superstar’s arrival has had a staggering economic impact on the city of Indianapolis and the Fever franchise, highlighting the benefit of a top athlete within the local community. However, Clark’s stardom also had a far-reaching impact on the league as a whole, adding tremendous value to the WNBA. Trade area analysis reveals that several WNBA arenas saw an uptick in visitor affluence when hosting the Fever with Clark in the lineup – likely driven in part by the elevated ticket prices associated with her appearances.
When the Minnesota Lynx hosted the Fever on July 14th, 2024, for example, the median HHI of Target Center’s captured market shot up to just over $93K/year, well above the median HHIs for the games immediately before and after that event. (A venue’s captured market refers to the census block groups (CBGs) from which it draws its visitors, weighted to reflect the share of visits from each one – and thus reflects the profile of the venue’s visitor base.) Similarly, the Fever’s away game against the Connecticut Sun on May 14th, 2024 at Mohegan Sun Arena drove a higher audience median HHI ($103.6K/year) than either of the Sun’s next two home games.
Having a superstar on the roster can drive positive outcomes locally and league-wide – but overall team success is the ultimate goal for any franchise. So it may come as no surprise that stadiums and arenas can drive engagement when their home teams perform well on the field or court. And teams that reverse their fortunes often spark even greater excitement, boosting visitor loyalty, visit duration, and other key metrics.
The Baltimore Orioles had one of the worst records in baseball just a few years ago. But since 2022, the team has flipped the script – stringing together winning seasons and postseason berths. And location intelligence shows that as the team finds success, fans are becoming more engaged with their hometown stadium.
During the 2019 regular season, one of the worst for the club in recent history, stadium attendance suffered, with only 8.3% of visitors to Oriole Park at Camden Yards visiting the stadium at least three times. But during the 2024 regular season, Oriole Park’s share of repeat visitors (those who visited at least three times) was almost double 2019 levels (16.3%) – consistent with a sharp increase in sales of multi-game ticket packages.
In addition to attending games more often, visitors to Oriole Park also appear to be spending more time at the ballpark. During the 2019 regular season, visitors spent an average of 150 minutes at the stadium, but in 2024, the average time at the park increased to 178 minutes – potentially boosting ancillary spending and in-stadium advertising exposure. The increased dwell time of visitors is particularly noteworthy when considering that MLB’s rule changes have significantly shortened average game time.
The more engaged fandom engendered by team success not only impacts stadium visitor behavior, but also has the potential to drive revenue. The Orioles added 20 new corporate sponsors before the 2024 season, likely due to the attention garnered by the well-performing club.
The NFL’s Detroit Lions provide another example of team success that has driven visitor engagement. As the franchise has improved its record in recent years, the trade area size of its stadium – Ford Field – has also increased, indicating elevated attendance from fans living further away.
The Lions finished the regular season with losing records from 2019 to 2021, but finished over .500 in 2022 (9-8), 2023 (12-5), and 2024 (15-2). And with the team’s increasing wins each consecutive season, the size of its stadium's trade area has also increased steadily – reaching 81.3% above 2019 levels in 2024.
This underscores just how much team success matters to fans, who may be more inclined to travel longer distances if they believe their team is likely to win. Ultimately, broader fan engagement across a wider trade area also increases a team’s growth potential beyond in-stadium attendance – driving merchandise sales, increasing viewership, and benefitting both the team and the league as a whole.
While stadium attendance and visitor behavior is often correlated to the performance of the sports teams that play in the arena, sporting venues can also drive fan engagement in ways that aren’t solely tied to team success or big-name athletes. By adapting their concessions and venue operations to visitor preferences, stadiums and arenas can better serve their audiences and strengthen their community presence.
Consumers have been feeling the pinch of rising food costs for quite some time, but at least one NBA team has responded to make concessions at the game more affordable for fans. In December 2024, the Phoenix Suns announced a $2 value menu for all home games at Footprint Center – delivering steep discounts on hot dogs, water, soda, and snacks.
Location analytics suggest that since the value menu launch, more fans who would have otherwise waited until after leaving the venue to grab a bite are now enjoying food and drinks inside the arena. Analysis of five Suns home games just before the value menu launch – between November 26th and December 15th, 2024 – reveals that between 7.0% and 9.3% of stadium visitors visited a dining establishment after leaving the arena. But following the value menu launch before the December 19th, 2024 home game, post-game dining decreased to under 6.0% through the end of the year.
Suns owner Mat Ishbia’s announcement of the new menu called out the need for affordable food options for families at Suns games. As the season progresses, the new menu may drive a larger share of family households to Suns games, which could provide opportunities for advertisers and other stadium partners.
Consumers in Washington – and especially Seattle – are known for their affinity for plant-based diets and environmentally-friendly lifestyles. And that goes for local football fans as well: Audience segmentation provided by the AGS: Behavior & Attitudes dataset combined with trade area data reveals that during September to December 2024, households within Lumen Field’s potential visitor base were 36% more likely to be “Environmentally Conscious Buyers” and “Environmental Contributors” and 39% more likely to be “Vegans” compared to the nationwide average. By contrast, across all NFL stadiums, potential visiting households were 2%, 1%, and 3% less likely, respectively, to belong to these segments.
And Lumen Field has been actively catering to these consumer preferences. The stadium, which has been experimenting with plant-based culinary options for quite some time, was recently recognized as one of the most vegan-friendly stadiums in the NFL. And in December 2024, Lumen became the second stadium in the league to achieve TRUE precertification for its efforts to become a zero-waste venue.
By remaining aligned with its visitor base – including both football fans and people that visit the stadium for other events – Lumen Field encourages visitors to feel at home at their local stadium. And fans may be more connected to their team knowing the club shares their values and respects their lifestyle.
Stadiums and arenas can leverage a variety of strategies to engage visitors in attendance as well as wider audiences. Signing a star athlete, putting together a winning club, or adapting to local preferences are just some of the ways that sports franchises and athletic venues can find success.
Starbucks. Amazon. Barclays. AT&T. UPS. These are just some of the major corporations that have made waves in recent months with return-to-office (RTO) mandates requiring employees to show up in person more often – some of them five days a week.
But how are crackdowns like these taking shape on the ground? Is the office recovery still underway, or has it run its course? And how are evolving in-office work patterns impacting commuting hubs and dining trends? This white paper dives into the data to assess the state of office recovery in 2024 – and to explore what lies ahead for the sector in 2025.
In 2024, office foot traffic continued its slow upward climb, with visits to the Placer.ai Office Index down just 34.3% compared to 2019. (In other words, visits to the Placer.ai Office Index were 65.7% of their pre-COVID levels). And zooming in on year-over-year (YoY) trends reveals that office visits grew by 10.0% in 2024 compared to 2023 – showing that employee (and manager) pushback notwithstanding, the RTO is still very much taking place.
Indeed, diving into quarterly office visit fluctuations since Q4 2019 shows that office visits have been on a slow, steady upward trajectory since Q2 2020, following – at least since 2022 – a fairly consistent seasonal pattern. In Q1, Q2, and Q3 of each year, office visit levels increased steadily before dipping in holiday-heavy Q4 – only to recover to an even higher start-of-year baseline in the following Q1.
Between Q1 and Q3 2022, for example, the post pandemic office visit gap (compared to a Q4 2019 baseline) narrowed from 63.1% to 47.5%. It then widened temporarily in Q4 before reaching a new low – 41.4% – in Q1 2023. The same pattern repeated itself in both 2023 and 2024. So even though Q4 2024 saw a predictable visit decline, the first quarter of Q1 2025 may well set a new RTO record – especially given the slew of strict RTO mandates set to take effect in Q1 at companies like AT&T and Amazon.
Despite the ongoing recovery, the TGIF work week – which sees remote-capable employees concentrating office visits midweek and working remotely on Fridays – remains more firmly entrenched than ever.
In 2024, just 12.3% of office visits took place on Fridays – less than in 2022 (13.3%) and on par with 2023 (12.4%). Though Fridays were always popular vacation days – after all, why not take a long weekend if you can – this shift represents a significant departure from the pre-COVID norm, which saw Fridays accounting for 17.3% of weekday office visits.
Unsurprisingly, Tuesdays and Wednesdays remained the busiest in-office days of the week, followed by Thursdays. And Mondays saw a slight resurgence in visit share – up to 17.9% from 16.9% in 2023 – suggesting that as the RTO progresses, Manic Mondays are once again on the agenda.
Indeed, a closer look at year-over-five-year (Yo5Y) visit trends throughout the work week shows that on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 2024 office foot traffic was down just 24.3% and 26.9%, respectively, compared to 2019 levels. The Thursday visit gap registered at 30.3%, while the Monday gap came in at 40.5%.
But on Fridays, offices were less than half as busy as they were in 2019 – with foot traffic down a substantial 53.2% compared to 2019.
Before COVID, long commutes on crowded subways, trains, and buses were a mainstay of the nine-to-five grind. But the rise of remote and hybrid work put a dent in rush hour traffic – leading to a substantial slowdown in the utilization of public transportation. As the office recovery continues to pick up steam, examining foot traffic patterns at major ground transportation commuting hubs, such as Penn Station in New York or Union Station in Washington, D.C., offers additional insight into the state of RTO.
Rush hour, for one thing – especially in the mornings – isn’t quite what it used to be. In 2024, overall visits to ground transportation hubs were down 25.0% compared to 2019. But during morning rush hour – weekdays between 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM – visits were down between 44.6% and 53.0%, with Fridays (53.0%) and Mondays (49.7%) seeing the steepest drops. Even as people return to the office, it seems, many may be coming in later – leaning into their biological clocks and getting more sleep. And with today’s office-goers less likely to be suburban commuters than in the past (see below), hubs like Penn Station aren’t as bustling first thing in the morning as they were pre-pandemic.
Evening rush hour, meanwhile, has been quicker to bounce back, with 2024 visit gaps ranging from 36.4% on Fridays to 30.0% on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Office-goers likely form a smaller part of the late afternoon and evening rush hour crowd, which may include more travelers heading to a variety of places. And commuters going to work later in the day – including “coffee badgers” – may still be apt to head home between four and seven.
The drop in early-morning public transportation traffic may also be due to a shift in the geographical distribution of would-be commuters. Data from Placer.ai’s RTO dashboard shows that visits originating from areas closer to office locations have recovered faster than visits from farther away – indicating that people living closer to work are more likely to be back at their desks.
And analyzing the captured markets of major ground transportation hubs shows that the share of households from “Principal Urban Centers” (the most densely populated neighborhoods of the largest cities) rose substantially over the past five years. At the same time, the share of households from the “Suburban Periphery” dropped from 39.1% in 2019 to 32.7% in 2024. (A location’s captured market refers to the census block groups (CBGs) from which it draws its visitors, weighted to reflect the share of visits from each one – and thus reflects the profile of the location’s visitor base.)
This shift in the profile of public transportation consumers may explain the relatively slow recovery of morning transportation visits: City dwellers , who seem to be coming into the office more frequently than suburbanites, may not need to get as early a start to make it in on time.
While the RTO debate is often framed around employer and worker interests, what happens in the office doesn’t stay in the office. Office attendance levels leave their mark on everything from local real estate markets to nationwide relocation patterns. And industries from apparel to dining have undergone significant shifts in the face of evolving work routines.
Within the dining space, for example, fast-casual chains have always been workplace favorites. Offering quick, healthy, and inexpensive lunch options, these restaurants appeal to busy office workers seeking to fuel up during a long day at their desks.
Traditionally, the category has drawn a significant share of its traffic from workplaces. And after dropping during COVID, the share of visits to leading fast-casual brands coming from workplaces is once again on the rise.
In 2019, for example, 17.3% of visits to Chipotle came directly from workplaces, a share that fell to just 11.6% in 2022. But each year since, the share has increased – reaching 16.0% in 2024. Similar patterns have emerged at other segment leaders, including Jersey Mike’s Subs, Panda Express, and Five Guys. So as people increasingly go back to the office, they are also returning to their favorite lunch spots.
For many Americans, coffee is an integral part of the working day. So it may come as no surprise that shifting work routines are also reflected in visit patterns at leading coffee chains.
In 2019, 27.5% of visits to Dunkin’ and 20.1% of visits to Starbucks were immediately followed by a workplace visit, as many employees grabbed a cup of Joe on the way to work or popped out of the office for a midday coffee break. In the wake of COVID, this share dropped for both coffee leaders. But since 2022, it has been steadily rebounding – another sign of how the RTO is shaping consumer behavior beyond the office.
Five years after the pandemic upended work routines and supercharged the soft pants revolution, the office recovery story is still being written. Workplace attendance is still on the rise, and restaurants and coffee chains are in the process of reclaiming their roles as office mainstays. Still, office visit data and foot traffic patterns at commuting hubs show that the TGIF work week is holding firm – and that people aren’t coming in as early or from as far away as they used to. As new office mandates take effect in 2025, the office recovery and its ripple effects will remain a story to watch.
