Late-Night Crowds Flock to Quick-Service Restaurants

For quick-service chains that are open late, customers coming in at night and in the early morning can comprise a substantial amount of overall foot traffic.

Also read, Fast food drive-thrus just got slower.

Foursquare analyzed foot traffic data to determine which quick serve lures the largest portion of its diners late at night, and White Castle led the pack with 21.5 percent of all its customers coming between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.

At Jack in the Box, 17 percent of all diners came during the late-night hours and 14.8 percent of Taco Bell’s foot traffic came during this time.

Rounding out the list were:

• McDonald’s: 11.1 percent
  
• Wendy’s: 10.5 percent
  
• Burger King: 7.7 percent
  
• KFC: 6.5 percent
  
• Arby’s: 5.1 percent
  
• Qdoba: 3.5 percent
  

Quick-serve brands have found ways to appeal to late-night eaters through ads and promotions, such as Taco Bell’s Fourthmeal and Wendy’s Moonlight Meal Deal.

Jack in the Box recently launched a way for customers to get food delivered directly to their door through a partnership with on-demand restaurant delivery service DoorDash.

Through the partnership, DoorDash will be delivering food from Jack in the Box to customers in the San Francisco Bay area as late as 3 a.m.

“Unlike the daytime hours and the responsibilities that come with them, we believe that late night should be reserved for doing the things our guests enjoy the most,” says Iwona Alter, Jack in the Box vice president of marketing, in a statement about the partnership.

After 9 p.m., customers can order Jack in the Box’s late night offering Munchie Meals, which combine popular menu items. A new meal offering through that promotion is the Sriracha Curly Fry Burger—a cheeseburger topped with seasoned curly fries and a layer of Sriracha sauce that is accompanied by two tacos, a drink, and fries for $6.

Source Alex Dixon, QSR Magazine