HORSHAM, Pa. / Oct. 18, 1999--Restaurants across the country are packing up the leftovers for diners to enjoy a second time at home, according to a new survey, commissioned by American Demographics and released by Taylor Nelson Sofres Intersearch, (TNS Intersearch) the U.S. headquarters of the UK-based Taylor Nelson Sofres group.

The "Restaurant Survey" was a nationwide telephone survey of 1,000 adults, ages 18 and older, conducted during July 1999. Findings showed that nearly two-thirds of Americans with leftovers take home restaurant "doggie bags," and 89 percent eat those leftovers. Of the respondents, 67 percent of women and 56 percent of men take home doggie bags.

The survey also looked at types of restaurants. Overall, the majority of respondents (69 percent) said that in the past six months, they had eaten at American/continental restaurants most often, with Italian (62 percent), Chinese (59 percent) and Mexican (57 percent) restaurants following. Rounding out the list were Japanese (18 percent), Thai (11 percent) and French (10 percent) restaurants.

However, types of restaurants differed among the various groups surveyed. Men ate at Mexican (62 percent) and Japanese (23 percent) restaurants more often than did women (51 and 13 percent, respectively). Married people ate American/continental cuisine more often (73 percent) than did unmarried people (65 percent), but unmarrieds ate at Thai restaurants more frequently (17 percent) than did married people (eight percent).

When examined on a regional basis, Westerners ate Mexican food far more often (71 percent) than Northeasterners (34 percent), while those in the Northeast ate Italian food (76 percent) more often than Southerners (56 percent). Westerners also ate Japanese food (27 percent) more often than did Midwesterners (12 percent).

Those residing in metropolitan areas ate at Chinese (62 percent), Italian (67 percent), Japanese (20 percent) and Thai (14 percent) restaurants more often than did those in non-metropolitan areas (Chinese-51 percent, Italian-45 percent, Japanese-12 percent and Thai-three percent).

"Although certain ethnic restaurants seem to draw lower numbers," said Howard Barich, senior vice president, marketing, TNS Intersearch, "it is probably attributable to lack of penetration in certain markets. For example, in some parts of the South or Midwest, there may not be many Thai restaurants for people to visit."

More information on the Restaurant Survey is available from TNS Intersearch by calling Howard Barich, Sr. Vice President Marketing, at (914) 684-6100 or e-mailing him at [email protected].

TNS Intersearch, founded in 1960, is a full-service international survey firm with 365 full-time employees and is the seventh largest custom market research company in the U.S. The company is headquartered in Horsham, PA and has client service offices in major cities throughout the U.S. TNSI is the US headquarters of one of the world's largest market research companies, Taylor Nelson Sofres, which was also ranked the fastest-growing market research company in the world, according to Inside Research, with more than 100 offices in over 35 countries. Further information on TNS Intersearch is available from the company website:

This release is available at the KCSA Worldwide website at www.kcsa.com.

Suzanne Sullivan (KCSA)
212/896-1221
Kanan, Corbin, Schupak & Aronow, Inc.