Restaurant takeout has become a central operating channel rather than a side service. The National Restaurant Association reports that nearly 75% of restaurant traffic now happens off-premises. Weekly pickup, drive-thru, and delivery use is also widespread, while customers increasingly expect convenient digital ordering and packaging that protects food quality.
Contents
- The scale of off-premises restaurant traffic
- Who uses takeout, drive-thru, and delivery
- Packaging, value, and customer expectations
- How takeout changes restaurant space and operations
- Digital ordering and payment preferences
- Delivery platforms and marketplace scale
The scale of off-premises restaurant traffic
The headline measure is the share of restaurant traffic occurring away from the dining room. Nearly 75% of all restaurant traffic happens off-premises, or about three out of every four restaurant orders, according to the National Restaurant Association’s 2025 Off-Premises Restaurant Trends report. This is a traffic measure, not a forecast, and the source describes current off-premises activity.
The National Restaurant Association’s State of the Restaurant Industry 2025 report compares 2024 with 2019. Half of restaurant operators said off-premises represented a larger share of total sales in 2024 than in 2019. The result differed by service model:
| Operator group | Larger off-premises share in 2024 than 2019 | Smaller share | About the same share |
|---|---|---|---|
| All restaurant operators | 50% | 20% | 30% |
| Limited-service operators | 58% | — | — |
| Full-service operators | 41% | — | — |
The same report found that 20% of operators said off-premises represented a smaller share of sales in 2024 than in 2019, while 30% said it represented about the same share. The limited-service and full-service figures show that the shift was more common among limited-service operators: 58% reported a larger share, compared with 41% of full-service operators.
These figures describe how operators characterized their sales mix, not identical sales growth rates. A larger share of sales from off-premises orders can coexist with different overall sales outcomes, so operators should use the figures as a channel-mix signal.
Who uses takeout, drive-thru, and delivery
Weekly behavior shows why takeout needs dedicated capacity. In the National Restaurant Association’s Off-Premises Restaurant Trends 2025, 47% of adults said they pick up takeout from restaurants, coffee shops, snack places, or delis at least once a week. Another 42% use the drive-thru at least once a week, and 37% order delivery at least once a week.
The National Restaurant Association’s report “Takeout, drive-thru, delivery are more popular than ever” highlights particularly strong dependence among younger adults. Among Gen Z and millennial adults, 51% said picking up takeout or ordering drive-thru meals is essential to their lifestyles. In the same group, 41% said they rely heavily on delivery.
Drive-thru use is also frequent for specific customer groups. The National Restaurant Association’s Local Drive Thru Bans white paper reports that 50% of adults stop at a drive-thru at least once a week, and 30% of those adults do so multiple times per week. Among commuters, 74% use drive-thrus once per week; among parents, the comparable figure is 72%.
The same white paper found that 51% of adults say purchasing takeout food is essential to the way they live. In addition, 66% say they are more likely to purchase takeout and frequent drive-thrus than before the pandemic. These are survey responses about stated behavior and attitudes, with no inference that every respondent uses the same ordering channel.
Drive-thru access also affects routine and local policy preferences. Overall, 63% of adults oppose banning drive-thrus in their communities, and 45% of adults who oppose such bans strongly oppose them. A potential ban would affect the daily routine of 67% of commuters and 65% of parents, according to the same source.
Packaging, value, and customer expectations
Packaging can influence both menu breadth and willingness to pay. The National Restaurant Association’s “Increased sales come in the right packages” report says 90% of off-premises customers would be likely to order a greater variety of takeout or delivery items if packaging were upgraded. More than half of off-premises customers also say they are willing to pay extra for takeout and delivery when packaging helps maintain quality.
The result is stronger among Gen Z and millennial adults: 60% say they would pay extra for takeout and delivery if upgraded packaging helped maintain food quality. The measure concerns stated willingness, not a measured price premium or realized revenue increase.
Value offers are another recurring expectation. Eight in 10 delivery, takeout, and drive-thru customers say value deals resonate with them. The National Restaurant Association describes these deals as limited-time offers, buy-one-get-one deals, and off-peak discounts. This figure supports testing targeted offers, but it does not establish which promotion produces the highest margin.
For operators, the packaging figures point to a practical connection between menu engineering and fulfillment. Ninety percent of off-premises customers say upgraded packaging would make them likely to order a greater variety of items, while more than half are willing to pay extra when packaging protects quality. The data supports evaluating packaging alongside menu expansion and pricing rather than treating it only as a supply expense.
How takeout changes restaurant space and operations
Off-premises demand affects the physical site as well as the ordering system. In the National Restaurant Association’s State of the Restaurant Industry 2025, 40% of limited-service operators said they made changes to restaurant space or parking lots to accommodate off-premises orders. The comparable figure for full-service operators was 30%.
Those percentages describe operators that reported making changes; the source does not specify that every change was a pickup shelf, a dedicated staging area, or a drive-thru redesign. Still, the service-model difference is operationally relevant. Limited-service restaurants reported more frequent space or parking changes than full-service restaurants, consistent with their higher reported likelihood of having a larger off-premises sales share in 2024 than in 2019.
Technology investment plans also vary by operating model. The National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Technology Landscape Report 2024 says 16% of operators planned to invest in AI integration, including voice recognition, in 2024. Among limited-service operators, 42% planned to invest in contactless or mobile payment technology. Among full-service operators, 27% planned to devote resources to smartphone app development.
These are plans reported for 2024, not completed investments. They indicate where operators expected to allocate resources and should not be read as adoption rates.
Digital ordering and payment preferences
Delivery customers show broad interest in direct and third-party digital channels. According to the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Technology Landscape Report 2024, 84% of delivery customers would order delivery using a restaurant’s website, while 80% would use a smartphone app. Seventy-nine percent would use contactless or mobile payment options, and 73% would use a digital wallet such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Wallet, PayPal, or Venmo.
Third-party ordering remains important: 71% of delivery customers would order through a third-party service such as DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, or Postmates. Interest extends to emerging interfaces, although the percentages are lower. Forty-five percent would order using a voice-enabled platform such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home, or Siri; 37% would order food delivered by a drone; and 36% would order food delivered by a robot.
Limited-service customer preferences are especially relevant to pickup operations. Seventy percent would use a smartphone app to order at quick-service restaurants, delis, or coffee shops. Sixty-eight percent would place an order and pay in advance on the restaurant’s website before picking up food or beverages. The same 68% would pay using contactless or mobile payment options, while 65% would pay using a smartphone app.
Self-service tools also attract majority interest among limited-service customers: 65% would place an order using a self-service electronic kiosk, and 63% would pay using one. Sixty-one percent would pay using a digital wallet. For menu and ordering access, 57% would access a menu on a smartphone using a QR code, 52% would place an order on a smartphone using a QR code, and 48% would pay the check on a smartphone using a QR code.
There is also interest in assisted and automated service. Fifty-eight percent of limited-service customers would order food by talking to a live person on a video screen, while 33% would order by talking to an AI-generated person on a video screen. Thirty-six percent would order food delivered by automated systems or robots, and 30% would like their food prepared by automated systems or robots.
Full-service customers report a different mix of technology uses. Sixty-three percent would place an order using a smartphone app, 60% would place an order using a computer tablet at the table, and 48% would place an order on a smartphone using a QR code. For payment, 65% would pay using a computer tablet at the table, 62% would use contactless or mobile payment, 57% would use a digital wallet, 55% would use a smartphone app, and 46% would pay on a smartphone using a QR code. Fifty-nine percent would access the menu on a smartphone using a QR code.
Full-service customers also show interest in automation: 37% would order food delivered by automated systems or robots, and 29% would like their food prepared by automated systems or robots. These figures measure stated preferences, not current availability.
Delivery platforms and marketplace scale
Platform data shows the scale of delivery infrastructure, although it is not equivalent to restaurant takeout demand across the entire market. DoorDash’s 2024 Annual Report says that, in December 2024, DoorDash and Wolt Marketplaces had 42 million monthly active users, and 84% of those customers could use the platform for local ordering. As of December 31, 2024, DoorDash had more than 22 million DashPass and Wolt+ members.
DoorDash completed 2.583 billion total orders in 2024, while DoorDash Marketplace gross order volume reached $80.231 billion. DoorDash revenue increased to $10.722 billion in 2024 from $8.635 billion in 2023, a 24% year-over-year increase. Its net revenue margin rose to 13.4% in 2024 from 12.9% in 2023; contribution profit increased to $3.5 billion from $2.5 billion; and adjusted EBITDA increased to $1.9 billion from $1.2 billion.
The same annual report says 8 million people dashed in 2024, earning more than $18 billion. These platform-wide figures include marketplace activity and earnings at the company level; they do not identify the share attributable to any one restaurant or to takeout pickup.
Uber’s 2024 Annual Report reports that Uber Delivery gross bookings grew 17% year over year in 2024 on a constant-currency basis. Uber Delivery revenue increased by $1.5 billion, or 13%, in 2024, while Uber Delivery adjusted EBITDA increased by $965 million, or 64%.
Among consumers who used both Mobility and Delivery in the fourth quarter of 2024, Uber generated an average of 11.4 trips per month, compared with 5.2 trips per month for consumers using a single offering. The report also says Uber derived 20% of Mobility gross bookings from five metropolitan areas in 2024 and 15% from airport trips. Those last two measures concern Mobility, not restaurant delivery, so they should not be used as takeout market shares.