Restaurant reservations spike for Thanksgiving as grocery store prices bite

Drew Angerer/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
By Jordan Valinsky, CNN

New York (CNN) — Whether it’s due to the stress or financial burden of planning a multi-course meal, an increasing number of people are choosing to eat out for Thanksgiving this year.

Restaurant reservations for Thursday’s holiday are 13% higher year-over-year, according to exclusive data shared with CNN from OpenTable, a booking platform that encompasses more than 60,000 locations.

Thanksgiving arrives at a time when the cost of groceries is climbing for several reasons, including tariffs, the immigration crackdown and extreme weather affecting food supply. Prices rose in August at the fastest pace in three years and increased again in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It’s unlikely people seeking lower Thanksgiving costs will get them at restaurants, which tend to be more expensive than eating at home. Restaurant prices are rising faster than overall inflation and much faster than grocery prices, too, according to the BLS.

Although Thanksgiving in a restaurant might not be the cost-saving measure some think it might be, there could be some good news on the horizon: The National Restaurant Association said menu prices in September rose at their slowest monthly increase since February 2024. This could make eating out an attractive alternative for consumers, especially with some chains offering prix fixe deals.

Or some diners could choose to place large orders from their favorite restaurants and eat at home. Olo, a catering platform, told CNN it’s seen a nearly 100% increase in orders this year compared to last year.

Olo CEO Noah Glass told CNN that’s partly because of high grocery prices. He believes ordering in provides the “perfect combination of quality, convenience and value” for consumers.

The average cost of preparing a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people declined this year for the third holiday in a row, the American Farm Bureau Federation recently said, falling 5% to $5.52 per person this year. However, the Farm Bureau said that prices have not fully recovered from the record high reached in 2022.

Part of the reason for the decline is the lower price for the turkey. While the wholesale price of turkey is up from last year, according to the Farm Bureau, grocery stores’ meal deals are lowering the retail prices for the centerpiece item. Aldi, Amazon, Target and Walmart, among others, are all offering affordable Thanksgiving meal deals to attract cost-conscious customers.

Although some chains’ offerings are lower priced than in 2024, they might have cut corners to do so.

For example’s, Walmart’s deal, which is 25% cheaper than last year, has 15 products — six fewer than the 21 products in the 2024 version. In addition, items from the chain’s “Great Value” store brand make up a greater percentage of this year’s basket versus last year’s, which included a larger proportion of name brands.

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