Business Dining Shows Resilience Amid Uncertain Economic Landscape

While overall restaurant growth slows in early 2025, findings from Dinova’s State of Business Dining report highlight business dining’s relative stability during economic uncertainty.

Dinova Inc., the authority in business dining, today released its Spring 2025 State of Business Dining Report, offering fresh data and strategic insights for restaurants navigating a challenging start to the year.

Despite strong momentum at the end of 2024, restaurants entered 2025 facing significant headwinds. While business dining grew 5.6% in 2024, January 2025 showed more moderate 3.6% growth compared to January 2024—still outpacing overall industry performance during a period of economic caution. Dinova’s proprietary data underscores business dining’s potential as a stabilizing revenue source during uncertain times.

“The economic landscape remains unpredictable, with macroeconomic uncertainties causing both consumers and businesses to exercise caution,” said Dinova CEO Alison Quinn. “However, opportunity remains within the $245 billion business dining market. Even during uncertain times, business dining has historically shown resilience as companies continue to prioritize key relationships and support their workforce.”

The report reveals that while overall U.S. restaurant sales have slowed in early 2025, business dining continues to follow predictable patterns and demonstrate stability amid the slowdown. This highlights a strategic opportunity for restaurants to focus on this segment during cooling market conditions.

Additional highlights from the report include:

• How evolving expense tech and corporate travel programs are reshaping where and how business diners spend
• Why corporate catering is emerging as one of the industry’s most reliable long-term growth channels
• Exclusive insights into the distinct behaviors of national and regional travelers and what each value most in a dining experience
• Seasonal spending trends that reveal when business diners are most active—and which restaurant segments benefit most

From understanding evolving expense policies to identifying key seasonal patterns, this report provides practical insights to navigate today’s challenging environment,” said Quinn. “Whether restaurants are seeking to attract high-value business travelers, grow catering revenue, or maintain stability during economic fluctuations, these findings offer a roadmap to capturing this resilient market segment.”

Download the free Spring 2025 State of Business Dining Report at dinova.com/dining-report.