Spirits to benefit from US casual dining boom

Data from CGA’s On-Premise Measurement tool has found that casual dining outlets account for 53.2% of out-of-home spirits volumes in the US, an increase of 0.7 percentage points.

The number of casual dining restaurants has increased by 1.3% in the past 12 months, equivalent to more than 2,000 net new openings. They now comprise 73% of the eating channel in the US, having gained share from fine dining and ‘fast and polished’ casual segments in 2024.

In Louisiana, casual dining accounted for 47.1% of spirits volumes, up by 4.4 percentage points, while both Florida and New York saw casual dining outlets gain 1.4 percentage points.

Beer and wine have been less successful, with the sector comprising 49% and 71% of volumes respectively, a loss of 1.1 and 0.6 percentage points.

Matthew Crompton, CGA by NIQ’s vice-president for the on-premise – Americas, said: “Casual dining has been outperforming the US on-premise for new openings for some time, creating great opportunities for suppliers to gain new listings and sales.

“While total on-premise volumes have experienced modest declines in recent months, the growth in share highlights the value of casual dining to the spirits category, and the need to drive brand mandates in the sector to help rectify share-loss in beer and wine.

“To achieve that, suppliers will need accurate, up-to-the-minute sales and outlet data, and our research is the ideal springboard for smart and responsive strategies.”

CGA by NIQ recently discovered that the Mojito was growing in popularity and American whiskey was gaining market share.