I had to answer "No, I eat out the same as I did before", but I have to qualify that...we rarely eat dinner out, but I do usually pick up a salad from the grocery store salad bar for lunch. Does that count?

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Most people are being particular about what they spend their money on in department stores. these days. Most of the sales are bad because the stores are not restocking or have anything WORTH buying. That's what happened during the holidays, people WERE out looking. Food is food. A restaurant cant try to sell us last years lamb chop ( at least I hope not lol )

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I'm with Tracy, the amount is the same - almost none. I learned to cook a long time ago. The sad part is I like what I cook MUCH better than what I am served (as a rule).

When I do eat out I prefer a local eatery, certainly not a chain. They can at least kick my butt cooking-wise.

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My guess is that they eat out and then proceed to completely stiff the waiter/waitress on the tip.

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I don't think those guys are American... especially the one on the right!

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The guy on the left just pretends he's American. If he were American, though, it would probably skew the data by 5-6% upward.

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Yeah, my sister is a waitress in a big city. She says at her 2 restaurants, things have been busier actually, but people are not tipping like they used to.

I guess forget your fellow man's economic problems in lieu of your own.

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many, like David Hasselhoff are ordering burgers out and taking them home. Though I can afford to eat out, I am doing so less, other than the occasional meeting up with a regular Friday night dinner group. I am simply trying to keep more in the bank.

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"There hasn't been a recession in eating. We may postpone a car purchase or a new coat, but we won't postpone eating."

Quotes like this have a tendency to come back to bite people in the ass. Sure, people need to eat, but that doesn't mean they're going to eat out.

Anyway, things need to be broken down more. Grabbing a double cheesburger combo isn't anywhere near the same as sitting down for filet and lobster tail. People are looking to cut costs, so fast food is seeing a gain, but I imagine mid-high price restaurants are feeling a bit of a squeeze. This means less tips, less premium food being bought from farmers, etc.. Overall, a 1% increase due to an increase in people frequenting chains does far less for local economies than local restaurants staying steady.

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I thought several long standing restaurant chains were going out of business because people were not eating out as much.

At least that is what the last article said.

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