ResearchRestaurant Trends

Restaurant Industry trends

2026 Restaurant Industry Trends Report

For the first time, DoorDash and SevenRooms are bringing together insights to deliver a 360° view of the modern diner across the full customer journey, from dine-in to delivery.

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Introduction

To win today’s diners, you need more visibility into the customer journey

Today’s diners don’t think in channels—they move seamlessly from delivery to pickup to dine-in, often with the same restaurant. This report reveals the restaurant industry trends driving discovery, conversion and repeat business across the entire customer journey.

AI is taking a bite out of discovery & booking

As diners turn to AI to find restaurants and book tables, it’s creating a new opportunity for operators to capture demand, bookings and revenue.

Customers move between channels, does your data?

The same guest is ordering delivery and dining in, but disconnected tech makes it hard to track behavior, capture data and drive more revenue.

Your biggest upsell isn't the food, it's how you make diners feel

When diners feel recognized through personalized touches, recommendations, and remembered preferences, they visit more often and spend more when they do.

AI is taking a bite out of discovery & booking

As diners turn to AI to find restaurants and book tables, it’s creating a new opportunity for operators to capture demand, bookings and revenue.

Customers move between channels, does your data?

The same guest is ordering delivery and dining in, but disconnected tech makes it hard to track behavior, capture data and drive more revenue.

Your biggest upsell isn't the food, it's how you make diners feel

When diners feel recognized through personalized touches, recommendations, and remembered preferences, they visit more often and spend more when they do.

TREND ONE

AI is the next wave of discovery and booking

From search to reservations, diners are turning to AI to find restaurants and secure tables, creating new opportunities to capture high-intent demand.

AI search takes a bite out of discovery

22% of consumers now use AI to discover restaurants, to search for something new or nearby. 41% of AI recommendations come from listing platforms like DoorDash, followed by restaurant websites.*

Reservations start with a call, but AI is answering

64% of diners still call to book reservations, yet 40% of those calls go unanswered.* Meanwhile, 74% of diners are open to AI handling reservations, creating a clear opportunity to capture more demand.

TREND TWO

Your menu is your most powerful conversion tool

60% of diners say the menu influences where they book through reservation apps, and 87% of consumers have chosen what to eat on a delivery app based on seeing an appealing photo or video of a menu item. On DoorDash, reaching at least 50% menu photo coverage can increase sales by 13% on average.**

What consumers say would make menus easier to navigate

TREND THREE

The lines between delivery and dine-in are disappearing

Connected experiences and channels are becoming essential to driving more loyalty, revenue and growth.

Cross-channel opportunities and challenges

Diners prefer simplicity across delivery and reservations

64% of consumers would prefer one app for managing, delivery, pickup and reservations.

Connected systems are the path to profitability

83% of operators believe connecting systems like online ordering, delivery, reservations and guest data would have a positive impact on their profitability.

TREND FOUR

Consumer crave a personal touch

Turning first-time customers into repeat fans starts with acknowledging them on a 1:1 basis. The more a guest feels known, through preferences, occasions, and past behavior, the more they spend and return.

Groot Hospitality engages guests with precision marketing

"Anytime we do a ticketed event or use an event widget, we create a tag and it gets linked into the database to guest profiles. We even auto-tag our DoorDash customers, it helps keep everything organized, allowing us to deliver more tailored service and personalized marketing. We’ve got things segmented out by first-time diners, repeat guests, ‘we miss you’ emails.” 

Gideon Amelkin

Marketing Director, Groot Hospitality

* AI citation data based on findings from a research study conducted by Yext. AI missed call data sourced from Nations Restaurant News article ** Data based on internal DoorDash analysis of SMB merchants adding merchant-written descriptions to at least 50% of menu items (2023–2025). ***SevenRooms data is based on U.S. restaurant activity on the platform from October 2025 through March 2026.

Want more restaurant trends data?

Download the report to explore insights from 3,000 U.S. consumers, 500 U.S. operators, and DoorDash and SevenRooms U.S. platform data spanning the full restaurant lifecycle.