A New Thanksgiving Tradition: Eating Out

A number of families won’t be dining on a home cooked meal this Thanksgiving.

According to a National Restaurant Association survey, an estimated 30-million Americans will be going out to eat or getting carry-out for all, or part of the meal. Nearly 65-percent of those who are tapping the services of a restaurant are doing so to have more time with friends and family.

Among those eating at a restaurant, 31-percent admit they don’t want to do all the work involved in cooking and cleaning up from the meal. Nearly a quarter won’t be home to make the meal themselves. Fifteen-percent simply prefer to have Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant, and 12-percent don’t have enough room at their home to make and serve such an extensive meal.

Of those ordering all or part of their Thanksgiving meal from a restaurant, 15-percent confess it’s because they aren’t good cooks. Ten-percent say they don’t have the time to make all the dishes, and three-percent like the taste of restaurant food better.