Restaurants are taking flight this Thanksgiving

The Future. While Thanksgiving is traditionally known as a home cooked-meal holiday, a record number of Americans are opting to dine out or order in this year, citing rising grocery costs and an inability to find a suitable turkey. If the trend holds, Thanksgiving could join other holidays as becoming an eating-out heyday.

Trot out the turkey
Families are eating out for Thanksgiving this year, according to Axios.

• Technomic, a consultancy for the restaurant industry, found that 29% of Americans plan to order at least part of their Thanksgiving meal from restaurants — up from 24% last year.
• Popmenu, a tech company that helps online ordering, says that number is more like 45%, with some mom-and-pop establishments receiving up to $65,000 in advance orders.

And with supply chain issues (yeah, we’re still not totally done with that) causing shortages of Thanksgiving staples like turkey and cranberries, restaurants may be one of the only places to find your favorites reliably.

Family style
But there’s another surprising factor driving people to make a reservation this week — grocery prices are unusually high.

• A Wells Fargo study found that while restaurant prices are up 5.8%, grocery prices are up a whopping 9.8%. So Americans are generally spending less at the grocery store.
• Considering the markups, Americans also figure that going out is better than the time and effort it takes to make the food.

Additionally, the National Restaurant Association’s recently-released annual survey found that “Pent-up demand for in-restaurant experiences — socialization, celebration and culinary exploration — is strong.” In other words, people are tired of being at home anyway.