Customer profile of the “carryout” segment for restaurants

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to identify the customer profile for the “carryout” segment at all types of restaurants. Design/methodology/approach – Customers at two casual dining restaurants in the suburbs of a second‐tier city in Western Massachusetts were surveyed regarding their dining out habits, including carryout service. Findings – The carryout segment tends to be married with children, below the age of 55, and has slightly higher incomes than dine‐out only customers. Research limitations/implications – This study was exploratory and similar studies need to be performed covering more geographic locations at various times throughout the year. In addition, a probability sampling technique could be used with a good sampling frame. Practical implications – Casual dining restaurants need to determine whether they want to target the “carryout” segment. If so, the restaurant needs to focus more of its marketing efforts on reaching these customers and creating demand for the carryout product. Also, the benefits of targeting this segment need to be weighed against the additional costs in facility design and operations. Originality/value – This study focuses on the “carryout” segment for all types of restaurants, while most of the previous research in this area has been on quick‐service restaurants. This is important because the “carryout” segment for casual dining restaurants is increasing steadily.