Lila Margalit

Betting on Shrimp

When Red Lobster filed for bankruptcy in May 2024, much of the blame landed on a single menu item: a $20 Ultimate Endless Shrimp deal that proved far too popular for its own margins. The chain shuttered roughly 130 locations, was acquired by Fortress Investment Group, and brought in a new CEO to steady the brand.

So the decision to bring Endless Shrimp back in spring 2026 – this time as a limited-run promotion – wasn't an obvious one. We dove into the data to see how the relaunch is landing, and what it would take for Red Lobster's comeback to hold.

A Strong Traffic Rebound

In the weeks before the Endless Shrimp relaunch, the average number of visits to each Red Lobster location was running below year-ago levels – down by as much as 8.7% year over year (YoY) the week of April 13, and lagging the broader full-service restaurant segment.

Then came April 20. During the first full week of the Ultimate Endless Shrimp promotion, Red Lobster's per-location visits flipped sharply positive and have stayed there since, peaking at 24.3% YoY the week of April 27 and holding double-digit gains into early June – though the magnitude of the boost has gently eased over time. Notably, this outperformance came while full-service restaurant traffic remained roughly flat YoY.

Beyond The Promotion

The traffic surge suggests that Red Lobster's brand equity remains strong. Even after bankruptcy, store closures, and years of operational challenges, the chain was able to generate a meaningful visitation lift by bringing back one of its most recognizable promotions.

But Endless Shrimp can only do so much – and the pressures facing the chain, from elevated seafood costs to a burdensome lease portfolio, will remain even after the promotion inevitably ends. As the company continues to rightsize and improve profitability, the key question is whether its investments in menu innovation and customer experience will be enough to garner lasting customer loyalty. Will Endless Shrimp have a better ending this time around? 

Visit Placer.ai/anchor to find out.

Travel Season Begins

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer – and this year it arrived amid mounting cost pressures. Gas prices were at their highest Memorial Day level since 2022, while domestic airfare had risen more than 20% year over year – although travelers who booked early were often able to secure better deals.

That makes the holiday weekend a useful bellwether for the summer season ahead. Which corners of the travel economy are thriving, and where are consumers pulling back as budgets tighten? We dove into the data to find out.

Fewer Stops at the Pump

Visits to gas stations and convenience stores - a reasonable proxy for how much Americans are driving – fell 7.0% YoY over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, measured from Friday through Monday. The decline pushed visits below their 2021 level for the first time since the pandemic-era baseline.

The drop is even more striking when viewed against the holiday's typical pattern. Over the past four years, Memorial Day weekend has consistently generated roughly 2% to 3% more traffic than a typical weekend, measured against the average of the preceding six Friday-to-Monday periods. This year, that premium disappeared. Instead, visits ran 3.1% below the recent norm, marking the first time in at least four years that the unofficial start of summer drew fewer fuel-and-snack stops than an ordinary weekend.

This suggests that forecasts of record-setting Memorial Day travel may have overstated the strength of road-trip demand as fuel costs surged. But another possible explanation is that Americans still traveled, just not as far – an interpretation supported by the decline in travel distances across most hotel tiers (see below). Surging fuel costs may also have nudged some travelers who had planned to drive toward air travel instead.

Air Travel Holds Steadier

And indeed, airport visits by domestic travelers in the lead up to the holiday were comparatively resilient, slipping just 0.5% YoY on the Thursday and Friday before Memorial Day.

Compared to airports' prior six-week baseline, demand heading into the holiday weekend actually increased. Airport visits during the Thursday-Friday travel rush ran 9.7% above the average of the previous six weeks, up from 8.2% in 2025 and 7.1% in 2024. That resilience was likely driven, at least in part, by travelers who secured lower fares by booking well in advance. And because air travelers tend to skew more affluent than road trippers, those who did book later may have been more willing to absorb higher travel costs despite the sticker shock.

A K-Shaped Check-In

Hotels, meanwhile, saw declines in domestic traveler visitation across all tiers as some travelers likely looked for ways to reduce lodging costs, whether by staying with friends and family, choosing lower-cost accommodations, or taking shorter trips.

But the pullback was far from uniform. Economy hotels took the hardest hit, with visits down 7.2% YoY – the steepest decline of any segment. Midscale, upper-midscale, and upscale properties landed in the middle, posting declines between 4.3% and 5.0%. At the top end of the market, the softness was more limited: Upper-upscale hotels slipped just 2.2%, while luxury hotels declined 2.7%.

The same K-shaped pattern showed up in how far guests were willing to travel. The share of hotel visitors coming from more than 100 miles away declined across nearly every tier – most sharply at the lower end of the market. Only luxury hotels saw their share of long-distance guests actually increase by 1.2 percentage points – showing that affluent domestic travelers were still traveling the distance. 

A K-Shaped Summer Ahead?

The unofficial start of summer revealed a widening split in how Americans allocate their travel spending. Driving-related stops and budget hotels bore the brunt of the pullback, while air travel and higher-end lodging continued to hold steady.

Whether this divide narrows or widens will depend largely on the path of gas prices and consumer confidence. As fuel costs ease, will budget-conscious travelers return to the road in greater numbers? Will air travel rebound, and will hotel visitation follow?

For more data-driven consumer and travel insights, visit Placer.ai/anchor.

In recent years, Best Buy has faced significant challenges – from intensifying e-commerce competition to a slower housing market weighing on major categories like appliances.

But the retailer hasn't been resting on its laurels, rolling out a range of initiatives aimed at unlocking value from its physical and digital assets, including an expanded online Marketplace to enhanced retail media offerings and a strategic partnership with IKEA.

So how are these efforts playing out on the ground? We dove into the data to explore the rationale behind these initiatives and see what foot traffic data can tell us about their impact and future potential.

IKEA Shop-in-Shop Drives Visits

One of the more visible ways Best Buy is making new use of its physical footprint is through its shop-in-shop partnership with IKEA, which launched in fall 2025 across 10 stores in Florida and Texas. 

The concept, designed to give customers an integrated way to upgrade their homes, pairs IKEA furnishings with Best Buy's kitchen and laundry offerings. By helping shoppers visualize complete home projects, the shop-in-shop creates natural cross-selling opportunities across complementary categories while providing an additional reason to visit segments that have faced persistent headwinds.

And foot traffic data suggests that the bet may be paying off. Through the first four months of 2026, Best Buy stores with IKEA shop-in-shops outperformed the national Best Buy fleet – as well as the chain's Texas and Florida benchmarks – every single month. And with Best Buy now opening consultation spaces inside IKEA stores in Frisco, Texas, and Tampa, Florida, the partnership between the two brands appears poised to deepen further.

Turning Pickup Runs Into Premium Ad Inventory

Best Buy is also unlocking additional value from its store fleet through an expanded physical retail media network. Beyond traditional in-store advertising placements, the company monetizes its growing volume of pickup visits through Curbside Cinema displays, giving brands access to shoppers during a brief but highly attentive moment when there are few competing distractions for their attention.

And the visit data shows just how significant that opportunity is. In Q1 2026, more than 20% of Best Buy visits lasted under ten minutes – well above the 14.2% logged across discretionary chains.  By serving short, brand-safe content during those windows, Best Buy is turning idle waiting time into measurable ad impressions, monetizing a moment most retailers let slip by unused.

Reaching Sports Fans In-Store

Best Buy is also experimenting with increasingly sophisticated in-store advertising activations. The retailer recently partnered with a sports streaming platform on an immersive store takeover, using exterior signage, digital displays, and branded experiences to engage shoppers at multiple touchpoints. The campaign built on a broader recognition that Best Buy's customer base skews heavily toward sports enthusiasts - with the retailer reporting that its shoppers are 26% more likely than average to be sports fans. And this affinity has helped drive partnerships with organizations such as the NFL while creating new opportunities for Best Buy Ads.

Placer data from four of Best Buy's most-visited locations in Q1 2026 shows that while sports fandom is a consistent thread across markets, the specific interests vary considerably. Brooklyn's Bay Parkway location, for example, draws especially high concentrations of NHL and baseball fans, while Holyoke, Massachusetts skews more heavily toward NFL enthusiasts. Each market has its own distinct mix. And in a retail media landscape where targeting precision is the primary selling point, these market-level differences are another opportunity Best Buy is well positioned to capture.

More Than a Place to Shop

As Best Buy seeks to become more than just a retailer, its stores are increasingly serving multiple functions at once – driving merchandise sales, supporting advertising initiatives, and helping brands connect with consumers. Given the early signs of traction behind these strategies, it may come as little surprise that incoming CEO Jason Bonfig plans to build on them as he pushes Best Buy further toward becoming "a retailer, media, advertising, and technology company."

For more data-driven retail insights, follow Placer.ai/anchor

Game On!

The 2026 World Cup kicked off on June 11th – and so, it turns out, did one of Chipotle's biggest traffic days of the year. To mark the occasion, the fast-casual chain offered a buy-one-get-one entrée deal to anyone who walked in wearing a soccer jersey after 3 p.m. local time.

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And the promotion delivered a World-Cup-worthy visit spike. Nationwide foot traffic on June 11 ran 55.5% above Chipotle's 2026 year-to-date daily average – edging out the chain’s March tattoo BOGO, which ran 48.8% above the daily average. A jersey, it would seem, is an easier ask than a tattoo – even a fake one. And unlike the tattoo promotion, which was only available from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., the World Cup offer ran through closing, giving customers a much larger window to participate. 

The afternoon launch also concentrated demand later in the day. Because the promotion began at 3 p.m., visits between 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. ran 88.0% above the year-to-date average for those hours, significantly outpacing the all-day lift.

The Final Score

Chipotle's World Cup BOGO is a reminder of how much a well-timed, low-friction promotion can move foot traffic – especially one tied to a cultural moment as big as the World Cup. The jersey requirement kept the barrier to entry low, the 3 p.m. start funneled demand into the dinner daypart, and the brand's everyday regulars likely did the rest.

For more data-driven dining insights, visit Placer.ai/anchor.

Darden Restaurants will report year-end results on June 25, closing the books on a fiscal year in which the Olive Garden parent raised its guidance even as much of casual dining contended with cautious consumers. What's powering the outperformance – and which of Darden's banners are doing the heavy lifting? We dove into the data to find out.

Leaving the Category Behind

Visits to Darden's brands climbed 2.4% year over year (YoY) in Q1 2026 (January through March), even as traffic to the wider full-service restaurant category fell 1.3%.

And the gap doesn't just reflect Darden's expanding fleet. Average visits per location rose 0.5% YoY across the company's brands while declining 0.5% for the category as a whole – suggesting Darden is driving incremental demand at existing restaurants, not just adding new ones. The pattern echoes the results posted by the company last quarter, when blended same-restaurant sales beat the casual dining benchmark by 540 basis points.

Steak and Breadsticks

So what is fueling Darden’s success?

Among the company’s two largest brands, LongHorn Steakhouse has been the clear pacesetter, posting YoY same-store visit growth in every month of 2026 so far. The brand is likely benefiting from America's protein obsession, with meat demand climbing as high-protein diets go mainstream. And with grocery-store beef prices elevated, a steakhouse dinner may feel like particularly good value – especially as Darden has deliberately kept LongHorn's menu pricing below inflation while continuing to invest in food quality. That pricing gap may begin to narrow, however, as management has indicated that menu price increases are expected to move closer to inflation levels this quarter.

Olive Garden's performance, by contrast, has been more volatile. Some of the brand’s YoY visit fluctuations likely reflect calendar effects – March 2026 had one fewer Saturday than March 2025, while May benefited from an extra Sunday. But the flagship is also doing plenty right. Its springtime Buy One, Take One promotion and lighter-portion menu options have helped sharpen its value message, likely contributing to May's return to growth. And the brand delivered when it mattered most: On Mother's Day – one of the biggest dining-out occasions of the year – average visits per location to Olive Garden jumped 4.1% YoY, even as full-service restaurant visits rose just 2.2%.

Momentum at the High End

Elsewhere in Darden's casual dining portfolio, Chuy’s slipped in four of the first five months of 2026, underscoring the challenges facing full-service Tex-Mex operators amid intense competition from fast-casual alternatives. Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, meanwhile – the company's deepest value brand – generated same-store visit growth in four of the first five months of 2026, including a 3.1% increase in May. While some of that performance likely reflects easier comparisons, it also underscores the continued appeal of clearly differentiated value-oriented dining.

Darden's strongest momentum, however, is coming from the upper end of its portfolio. After entering fiscal 2026 with same-restaurant sales declining amid soft business travel, Darden’s fine-dining segment swung to 2.1% growth by last quarter on private dining gains and Ruth's Chris Steak House's three-course fixed-price menu. And visit data suggests this recovery continued into the spring, with May benefiting from a strong Mother’s Day across the segment: Average visits per location to The Capital Grille surged 16.7% YoY on the holiday, while Ruth’s Chris and Eddie V’s posted gains of 7.9% and 5.9%, respectively.

Upscale casual Yard House also performed well – strength management has credited to the brand's "socially energized bar" and distinctive menu, which position it as a social gathering destination rather than just another dinner stop.

Winning at the Edges

Darden's results highlight the advantage of a diversified portfolio built around distinct consumer occasions and value propositions. Cheddar's owns everyday affordability, LongHorn serves a juicy steak at an accessible price point, Yard House anchors a night out, and the fine dining banners serve as go-to destinations for life’s celebrations. Olive Garden, meanwhile, competes in the most crowded part of the casual dining market, and its more uneven performance reflects that. But the flagship's value plays – and its standout Mother's Day – suggest it is finding its footing in the middle, too.

Can Darden's distinct brand positioning continue to drive outperformance as 2026 unfolds?

Check back with Placer.ai/anchor for the latest traffic insights.

Perhaps the nicest gift you can give a parent is a meal they don't have to cook – complete with cloth napkins, quality family time, and no dishes to clean afterward. That's why Mother's Day and Father's Day consistently deliver some of the biggest traffic surges of the year for full-service restaurants (FSRs).

But with fuel prices still elevated and consumers continuing to watch their spending, will families still splurge on dining out this Father's Day, or will some opt for lower-cost alternatives? Which restaurant chains stand to benefit the most from the holiday – and where might diners find a quieter table if they're hoping to avoid the crowds?

A Strong Mother's Day Sets the Table for Dad

Mother's Day and Father's Day have long ranked among the restaurant industry's most important occasions – and Mother's Day this year was no exception.

On May 10th, 2026, visits to full-service restaurants surged 56.0% above the average Sunday, while rising 1.5% year over year compared to Mother's Day 2025. Diners also spent more time at restaurants, with average dwell time climbing 12.8% above a typical Sunday – suggesting longer celebrations and potentially larger checks.

Limited-service restaurants, meanwhile, saw visits dip slightly below their typical Sunday baseline – suggesting that consumers weren't trading down. Even amid economic uncertainty, families appeared willing to pay a premium for the experience of celebrating Mom with a sit-down meal. And with Mother's Day and Father's Day consistently ranking among the busiest days of the year for full-service restaurants, Mother's Day's strong performance bodes well for another successful Father's Day season.

Texas Roadhouse Steals the Father’s Day Show

On a typical Sunday, Texas Roadhouse is already the nation's most-visited full-service restaurant chain, capturing 7.9% of FSR visits. Chili's follows at 7.1%, while Olive Garden captures 6.5%.

Mother's Day reshuffles the leaderboard somewhat. Both Texas Roadhouse and Olive Garden gain meaningful share as families gather for celebratory meals, with Texas Roadhouse narrowly maintaining its lead. On Mother's Day 2026, Texas Roadhouse captured 9.2% of FSR visits, while Olive Garden followed closely at 8.8%.

Father's Day, however, is a very different story. Last year, Texas Roadhouse captured 9.4% of all full-service restaurant visits, while both Chili's (5.8%) and Olive Garden (5.7%) lagged far behind. Steak, it seems, is exceptionally dad-coded.

The flip side, of course, is that Father's Day may be one of the quieter times to enjoy a plate of unlimited breadsticks. As families flock to steakhouses to celebrate Dad, Olive Garden's share of visits falls well below its typical Sunday levels, making it a surprisingly uncrowded alternative for diners looking to avoid the holiday rush.

Special Occasions Still Matter

Parents, it turns out, are very good for the restaurant business. And if Mother's Day is any indication, June 21st is poised to provide another meaningful boost for the segment this year – giving operators another opportunity to capitalize on one of the category's most reliable traffic-driving occasions.

To keep on top of full-service dining trends, follow Placer.ai/anchor.