New stats from Zagat

by Nick Vagnoni, Posted Nov 4th 2006 @ 1:32PM

The Zagat Survey recently released some stats from its new 2007 edition of America's Top Restaurants. According to Zagat, the citizens of Houston, Austin and Dallas/Ft. Worth dined out the most, all about four times per week. (Houston also frequently tops the Men's Fitness list of America's fattest cities.) The average meal is also a little cheaper in Houston ($27.04), compared with some of the more expensive dining cities on the survey, such as New York City ($39.43) and Palm Beach, FL ($38.56). Also, west coast diners apparently tip a percentage point or so less than East Coast diners, according to Zagat. Average tips out west hovered around 18 percent, while averages on the other side of the country were around 19 percent. There are still plenty of chowhounds out there too, apparently; 63 percent of those surveyed said they would drive 45 minutes each way for a good meal. Restaurant News Resource has the full Zagat press release with lots more info.

Filed Under: Business, Trends, Chefs & Restaurants, Restaurants
Tags: 2007, america, cities, dining, eating out, guide, new, percent, statistics, stats, survey, tips, trends, zagat

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-15-2006 @1:01AM Rachel said... I found this posting very interesting to compare the eating habits of Americans to those here in Australia...

www.menulog.com.au is an Australian dining guide that have recently completed a survey that found 40% of Australians eat out up to 3 times per week. It's amazing to think that almost half our population dines out so frequently!

In terms of tipping, in Australia it is not a requirement to tip but the survey found that 70% of Aussies do tip if they found the experience worthy. We don't have a "rule" for how much you should tip but most diners have their own sliding scale that they apply.

I wonder that if Americans are willing to drive 45 to a good restaurant, would they be willing to wait for a seat at a restaurant that has waiting time of over an hour? In Australia, the Menulog survey found that almost 80% of diners would go to a quieter restaurant instead of waiting - it would seem we are a little more impatient in Oz!
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