2019 Q3 Retail Index - Food

Last, but certainly not least, in our Q3 Retail Index is the food sector. We looked at ten of the biggest QSR brands to see who came out on top this quarter. 

Slicing Up the Sector

Despite summer dips, Starbucks remained the market leader out of the group, taking 27.9% of market share. McDonald’s was close behind, with 22.9% of market share. 

Starbucks and McDonald’s were also the leaders when it came to customer loyalty or visits per visitor. The average Starbucks customer visited 2.4 times per quarter, and the average McDonald’s visitor came 2.8 times. That’s almost one visit per month for these chains for the average visitor.

Not only are these chains experiencing quarter-over-quarter growth, but they’re managing to bring repeat traffic to their locations, further cementing the strength of their appeal.

A Look-Back 

Chick-Fil-A had a very exciting quarter. In part, the chain managed to drive growth through menu innovation, but more importantly, it was one of the main characters in the much-hyped Chicken Wars saga. In fact, when it comes to quarter-over-quarter growth, Chick-Fil-A dominated with 8.2% growth. Burger King was the runner up, with 4.8% growth over Q2. Overall, the sector had minimal growth, at 1.34%, with four of the ten restaurants actually experiencing declines in traffic from the previous quarter. 

Stay and Eat

Starbucks and Panera were the leaders in the “length of stay” category, each with average visit duration of over 50 minutes. These are very high values for a fast-casual restaurant, and with the group average at 41.7 minutes, demonstrating these restaurants’ ability to provide a more well-rounded dining experience. Naturally, SONIC was at the lower end of the scale, with 37 min average stay. 

Holiday Excitement

Will Starbucks continue driving quality traffic with its famous holiday offerings? Will Chick-Fil-A be able to extend its Q3 success into Q4? Check back in at Placer.ai to find out.