Paycheck-to-Paycheck Consumers Cut Back on Online Restaurant Ordering

As food prices rise, consumers who don’t have a financial safety net to fall back on are no longer springing for restaurant delivery and takeout as much as they did in previous months.

By the Numbers

PYMNTS’ new study, “The ConnectedEconomy Monthly Report: Paycheck-To-Paycheck Consumers Digitally Disengage,” finds that consumers who live paycheck to paycheck and make less than $100K a year have been, over the course of the year, engaging less and less with restaurants’ digital channels.

Related news: NEW STUDY: Inflation Causes Widespread Digital Pullback by Financially Strapped Consumers

The Data in Action

Restaurants are doing what they can to try to get adoption of these channels back into the green. Restaurant Brands international, for its part, parent company of Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, is driving mobile orders across brands by reducing loading times in their apps. On a call with analysts Thursday (Aug. 4), the company discussed their second quarter 2022 results and how it is updating the mobile experience.

“This quarter, we moved the Popeyes app to a more modern codebase improving loading times by up to 52% thus far, a statistic that importantly is highly correlated to app usage and orders,” Joshua Kobza, the company’s chief operating officer, said. “We’re planning to roll out the similar speed upgrades to Burger King and Tim Hortons in the coming months.”

Read more: Burger King, Popeyes Parent Cuts App Load Times 52% to Boost Digital Orders