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For Immediate Release September 14, 2007
Contact: Cristi Allen
callen@decisionanalyst.com
Phone: 817-640-6166

Majority of U.S. Adults Prepare Homemade Lunches Rather Than Eating at Restaurants, Decision Analyst Study Shows

Arlington, Texas – Almost two-thirds of U.S. adults say that they prepare their own lunches rather than eat at restaurants, according to a nationwide study by Decision Analyst, a leading marketing research and marketing consulting firm.

In its ongoing Health and Nutrition StrategistTM syndicated study, Decision Analyst asked 4,156 survey respondents if they agreed or disagreed with the statement: “I typically prepare my own lunches rather than eat restaurant lunches.” Sixty-three percent of adults report that they usually prepare their own lunches rather than eat lunch at a restaurant.

Women are more likely to prepare their own lunches than males are, by a margin of 70% to 57%. This shows that women are more self-sufficient than men are.

Prepares Own Lunches Rather Than Eats at Restaurants
(By Gender)
Gender
Percent of Each Gender
Female
70%
Male
57%

Older consumers have a tendency to forgo restaurant lunches in favor of home-prepared lunches at the highest rate (66% of those aged 55 to 64), but a majority of even the youngest adults say that they prepare their own lunches (55% of those aged 18 to 24).

Prepares Own Lunches Rather Than Eats at Restaurants
(By Age)
Age
Percent within Each Age Group
18 to 24 55%
25 to 34 60%
35 to 44 59%
45 to 54 62%
55 to 64 66%
65 or older 76%

As household income increases, the preparation of one’s own lunch (rather than visiting a restaurant for lunch) tends to decline. This suggests that economics are partly an explanation for home preparation of lunches, but the large percentage of those in the highest income group who prepare their own lunches indicates that other important reasons are at work (perhaps flavor preferences, nutritional reasons, convenience, and available time).

Prepares Own Lunches Rather Than Eats at Restaurants
(By Household Income)
Annual Household Income
Percent within Each Income Group
Under $25,000
62%
$25,000 to $49,999
67%
$50,000 to $99,999
64%
$100,000 to $150,000
60%
$150,000 or more
50%

Methodology

Decision Analyst’s Health and Nutrition StrategistTM study is conducted online via its proprietary American Consumer Opinion® online panel. Participants are a nationally representative, statistically balanced sample of 4,156 American adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 2%. The Health and Nutrition StrategistTM study is an integrated knowledge base of food and beverage consumption, restaurant usage, health habits, and nutritional attitudes.

About Decision Analyst

Decision Analyst (www.decisionanalyst.com) based in Dallas-Fort Worth, is a leading international marketing research and marketing consulting firm specializing in advertising testing, strategy research, new product development, and advanced modeling for marketing decision optimization. The 29-year-old firm delivers competitive advantage to clients throughout the world in the consumer packaged goods, telecommunications, retail, high technology, medical, utilities, and e-commerce industries. Also, Decision Analyst operates the American Consumer Opinion® online panel, which has more than seven million participants and is one of the largest panels in the world.

For additional information contact:
Cristi Allen
Publicity
Email: callen@decisionanalyst.com
Phone: 1.800.ANALYSIS (262.5974)
Address: 604 Avenue H East
Arlington, TX 76011

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