Representative Survey: Digital Gastronomy
21 February 2025Download
- Online presence is essential: 70% of German visitors to restaurants use digital platforms to search for places to eat
- Increase in digital bookings: 50% of German restaurant visitors have already booked a table online; for weekly restaurant visitors, this share rises to 71%
- Preference for cashless payment: 55% prefer contactless payment by card, mobile or QR code in restaurants; among those under 45 years of age, the figure is 73%
The majority of German visitors to restaurants use digital tools for restaurant searches, reservations and payments, according to a representative survey of 2,000 participants conducted by YouGov on behalf of METRO and its subsidiary DISH Digital Solutions. The results clearly show that digital solutions in general and specifically among younger people are becoming increasingly popular.
Digitalisation has found its way into many areas of life and users have long since become accustomed to it. What's more, they increasingly expect digital services that they are familiar with from online shopping, travel bookings or administrative procedures. On the provider side, too, digital applications can help to improve efficiency by ensuring more streamlined processes and better planning security. This also applies to the restaurant industry, which is currently facing increased challenges such as high rents, rising costs and staff shortages. Although visiting a restaurant is an analogue experience per se, there are many relevant digital touchpoints, from searching for the right culinary offering to the payment process and the subsequent restaurant review. A representative survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of METRO and DISH in January 2025 asked guests about their experiences and preferences in order to determine the importance of digital tools in the restaurant industry. The result: the majority of restaurant guests are already familiar with and use digital services. In particular, the under-45s and frequent restaurant visitors place a greater value on digital offerings.
Dr Steffen Greubel, CEO of METRO AG: ‘The results clearly show that the digitalisation of the hospitality sector is important for the future viability of the industry, especially for owner-managed, independent businesses. Those who cannot be found online and do not offer digital services risk losing customers. According to our survey, guests, on the other hand, are ready for digital solutions. The industry should therefore make greater use of the potential and embrace the digital transformation in order to be able to operate successfully even under more difficult conditions. We at METRO are a strong partner at the side of restaurateurs, helping them to develop digital skills.’
Results of the survey
Frequency of restaurant visits in Germany: According to the survey, the majority of Germans eat out at least once a month (53%), and almost a quarter do so at least once a week (23%).
70% of respondents use digital platforms to search for restaurants. Website, social media, Google. If you can't be found here, you won't even be shortlisted. Online search engines (51%) and social media play a significantly greater role for under-45s than for older respondents – one in three younger people already uses social media to search for restaurants (35% vs. 8% for over-45s). In addition, 45% of respondents in total consider reviews and recommendations on online platforms to be very or fairly important when choosing a restaurant; among those under 45, the figure is as high as 63%. Only 11% do not consider this to be important at all. It is therefore very important for restaurant operators to actively encourage positive online reviews from guests.
49% of German restaurant visitors also share positive restaurant experiences themselves on online channels such as Google, forums or social media. Those who eat out at least once a week are even more likely to share their experiences digitally (85%). Nevertheless, word of mouth remains the undisputed most important channel for recommendations, at 78%. If there is an option to tag or link to a restaurant, restaurateurs can consequently increase their reach and awareness and credibly reach potential new guests.
When planning a visit and making a reservation, 50% of Germans have already reserved a table online, and for weekly restaurant visitors, this share rises to as much as 71%. Conclusion: It pays to introduce digital reservation systems and to offer online table reservations. In addition, 38% of guests and half of those under 45 years of age have already used digital menus.
Reliability and planning security for restaurants: Restaurateurs suffer from reservations that are cancelled at too short notice or not at all (no-shows), as they often cannot allocate the tables otherwise, meaning that important revenue is lost. METRO and DISH therefore wanted to know how guests feel about the no-show fees that some restaurants charge. The interesting result: guests can largely understand these fees – more than half of those surveyed (52%) are willing to make reservations at such restaurants. However, 35% would not do so.
Click on the graphic to enlarge
Cashless payment is also becoming increasingly important: over half of German restaurant visitors (55%) prefer to pay by card, contactless or mobile, and among the under-45s, this figure is as high as 73%. More than a third of this age group (34%) would even avoid a restaurant that does not offer cashless payment. Those who only offer cash payment will clearly lose potential guests in this respect. When it comes to tipping, Germans like to be in control – for 38% of respondents, it is important to be able to determine the amount of the tip when making a cashless payment. This is where the flexibility and user-friendliness of digital payment systems come into play, allowing the guest to specify the amount themselves. 10% of respondents stated that they do not tip.
The survey also shows that there is still a lot of potential for digitalisation in the hospitality industry, and younger guests in particular see opportunities here: almost half of those under 45 years of age (46%) see an improvement in the service level in the hospitality industry through digital offers. Overall, one third of all respondents agree. Compared to other industries, there is still room for improvement. 26% of Germans consider digitalisation in the restaurant industry to be less advanced than in other industries such as retail and travel. Only 10% consider the restaurant industry to be better digitalised.
Profitable hospitality industry needs digitalisation
METRO sees itself as a strong partner of the hospitality industry and is committed to the industry's concerns. Through its subsidiary DISH Digital Solutions, METRO supports restaurateurs in digitalising their business so that they can better respond to current challenges such as profitability pressure and staff shortages with the help of digital processes and mitigate them to some extent.
With DISH solutions, operators can not only control their own visibility on the internet, online ordering processes or reservations, but also manage all customer processes with the cloud-based DISH POS system and payment transactions in the restaurant with DISH Pay.
In addition, DISH can analyse and evaluate a wide range of internal and external data to support restaurateurs in their efficiency and profitability, instead of just relying on their own gut feeling. Menu engineering is a special service offered by METRO: a restaurant's menu and sales figures are read and analysed by DISH to optimise the food offering based on the most popular and profitable dishes. The resulting increase in the contribution margin for certain main courses demonstrably leads to up to €20,000* more revenue and improved profitability for restaurateurs.
* for the average restaurant with 20,000 guests per year
DISH Digital Solutions was founded in 2015 as a wholly owned subsidiary of METRO AG to develop digital solutions that contribute to the success of HoReCa customers (hotels, restaurants and caterers). The easy-to-use solutions are designed for the demanding everyday life of restaurateurs to save time and money. Under the eponymous brand, DISH offers competitive solutions to some of the industry's most pressing challenges. These include an online ordering system without commission payments, a POS solution, a reservation tool and Payment solution among others. More than 350,000 customers in 16 countries are already using DISH products to improve their business results. For more information please visit www.dish.co
METRO is a leading international food wholesaler which specialises in serving the needs of hotels, restaurants, and caterers (HoReCa) as well as independent resellers (Traders). Around the world, METRO has approx. 15 million customers who benefit from the wholesale company’s unique multichannel mix: customers can purchase their goods in one of the large stores in their area as well as by delivery (Food Service Distribution, FSD) – all digitally supported and connected. In parallel, METRO MARKETS is being developed as an international online marketplace for the needs of professional customers which has been growing and expanding continuously since 2019. Acting sustainably is one of the company principles of METRO which has been listed in various sustainability indices and rankings, including MSCI, Sustainalytics and CDP. METRO operates in more than 30 countries and employs over 85,000 people worldwide. In financial year 2023/24, METRO generated sales of €31 billion.
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