It’s Your Patriotic Duty: Go Out To Lunch!

There are many overwhelming problems in the world.

Middle East peace.

Global warming.

Affordable health care.

You probably feel there’s nothing you can do. But, there’s at least one major problem that you can solve by doing something simple every week to make a real difference.

The problem is the U.S. economy. The solution is simple. Go out to lunch. At a sit-down restaurant. With a waiter. Today. Right now. Even if it’s not lunchtime.

You see, people aren’t going out to lunch as much anymore. Last year, there were 433 million fewer lunch visits, costing the economy almost $5 billion. And that’s just a 2 percent decline.

There are lots of reasons:

• Thanks to higher quality and lower priced food at grocery stores, people are eating at home more than ever. Restaurant food prices keep going up. Food prices at grocery stores have been on the decline. The average “better burger” costs $9.00 at a restaurant. The same ingredients can be purchased at a grocery store, for only $1.86.
• Meal delivery kits like Blue Apron are getting better and locking people into subscriptions, removing restaurant visits on a recurring basis.
• More restaurants offer delivery themselves or are partnering with third parties like GrubHub and Uber.
• Job pressures have made eating at your desk the norm. Eating lunch out is perceived as a conspicuous luxury. The majority of all restaurant visits are now takeout.
• Less in-restaurant eating means less alcohol sales. That’s the largest profit contributor for most locations.
• Tipping. Yes, tipping. Eating at a restaurant means spending 20 percent more for the same food. That’s made consumers question whether dining in is worth the extra expense.

Here’s why this matters so much to the U.S. economy. By not going out to lunch, you’re also not running other errands. There’s a direct connection between declining retail sales and fewer workers leaving their jobs to go out to eat.

By eating out, even once a week, and visiting just one other store while you’re out, you can dramatically grow the U.S. economy.

Yes, you can make a difference. A big difference.