Beef outsells seafood at restaurants in 2012

Led by strong sales of ribeye steaks, filet steaks and burgers, restaurants saw sales of dishes with…

Led by strong sales of ribeye steaks, filet steaks and burgers, restaurants saw sales of dishes with beef take shares from dishes with seafood in 2012, according to new market data from GuestMetrics LLC. Data also revealed food dishes with protein (any type of meat or seafood) grew at a healthier clip in 2012 than food dishes without protein.

GuestMetrics based its findings on its proprietary database of POS transactions of more than $8 billion in transactions and over 250 million checks from restaurants and bars across the United States over the past two years.

“In analyzing the nearly two-thirds of dollar sales in restaurants that comes from food, we see that the split between protein and non-protein dishes is nearly identical (49% versus 51%, respectively), but the protein dishes grew at a healthy 2.1% pace in 2012 versus 2011, while non-protein dishes grew a more tepid pace of 0.3%," said Bill Pecoriello, CEO of GuestMetrics. “Given protein dishes have an average price-point about 35% above non-protein dishes, this should generally be a positive for restaurant operators."

According to Peter Reidhead, VP of strategy and insights at GuestMetrics, portion of sales was fairly evenly split between seafood (29%), chicken (29%) and beef (28%), followed by pork at 9% and a longer tail of less prevalent meats such as turkey, rabbit, duck and venison at a combined 4%.

“However, these different categories of meat dishes experienced very different rates of growth in 2012," he said. “As a result, beef experienced the greatest share gain, coming primarily at the expense of seafood dishes, which is logical given the American consumer remained under pressure in 2012, and the average beef dish costs 10% less than the average seafood dish, at $12.89 for a beef dish versus $14.40 for seafood."

Looking specifically within the beef and seafood sub-categories, the strongest performers within beef were ribeye steaks, filet steaks and burgers. Within seafood, the dishes that caused the share loss were shrimp, bass, clams and tuna, though their sluggish performance was partially offset by strength among oysters, salmon, grouper and trout dishes.

“In our minds, this underscores the importance of restaurateurs having an up-to-date understanding of the constantly shifting tastes of the consumer, in order to make sure their menus best meet those changing demands, and that they optimally deploy their marketing dollars accordingly," said Brian Barrett, president of GuestMetrics. “In addition we think it’s key that operators know how their menu items are priced versus their local market competition given how price sensitive consumers have been in the current economic environment."