Eating-out behavior across different restaurant segment types: Implications for transportation, public health, and food service sectors

This paper investigates the factors shaping dining-out preferences, focusing on the allocation of monthly weekday dinner occasions across four key restaurant segments: quick-service restaurants (QSRs), coffeehouses (CHs), casual-service restaurants (CSRs), and full-service restaurants (FSRs). The paper employs a Multiple Discrete-Count Extreme Value (MDCNTEV) modeling approach to analyze the data obtained from an online survey conducted in Texas in 2022. The findings reveal the compromises and considerations consumers make when determining their dining habits. Model estimation results indicate that frequent restaurant diners are white, affluent, single men, own multiple vehicles, and work full-time from a physical workplace location. There are also notable differences in those who tend to patronize different restaurant segments. QSRs attract younger, non-white, low-income individuals living with roommates, and residing in QSR-dense areas. CHs primarily draw in younger, non-white, working individuals. CSRs are favored by older individuals, single white women, car-less individuals, and residents of high-restaurant-density areas. FSRs are popular among non-white, high-income individuals. Our findings highlight the multifaceted interactions of demographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle, and location factors influencing consumer dining behavior, offering valuable insights for the transportation and urban planning, public health, and food service sectors.