How Reservation and Full-Service Restaurant Dining Trends Shifted In the Last Year

BOSTON, MA —Toast (NYSE: TOST), the all-in-one digital platform built for restaurants, released its latest Restaurant Trends Report, providing insight into the state of the U.S. restaurant industry through an analysis of aggregated data from selected cohorts of restaurants and in select U.S. states on the Toast platform, which serves approximately 156,000 restaurant locations as of Sept. 30, 2025.

The Q3 numbers are in, and diners at Toast restaurants are keeping things interesting. In-person hospitality is still king, but the "rules" of dining out are clearly shifting. Solo dining is soaring, and Tuesday is the new hot night for a dinner reservation. As restaurants navigate complexities, here's a snapshot of how diner behavior is evolving.

Table for one? Single diner reservations grew 22%

• Reservations for a single diner spiked 22% in Q3 2025 compared to Q3 2024.

• Diners are booking (and bailing) more. Seated reservations increased 8% year-over-year, but cancellations also rose 7%.

• No-show reservations decreased by 1%, suggesting that more guests are honoring their bookings or canceling in advance.

Ditch the group text — solo dining at Toast Restaurants is having a moment, with reservations for one on Toast Tables spiking 22% in Q3 2025 compared to the same time last year. More people are treating themselves to a meal out, no plus-one required. Still, single diners accounted for less than 1% of the total booked reservations. 

But it’s not just solo diners that are planning ahead. Overall, seated Toast Tables reservations increased 8% year-over-year on a same-store basis. But an increase in reservations also comes together with an increase in cancellations, which were up 7% compared to last year.

Approximately 2% of booked reservations were no-shows.

Tuesdays and Thursdays see the biggest reservation growth

• Tuesday reservation bookings jumped 15% year-over-year, the largest increase of any day.

• Thursday wasn't far behind, with a 12% increase in bookings.

• Weekends also saw healthy growth, with Sunday bookings up 9% and Saturday up 7%.

• Monday and Friday saw the most modest gains, both up 5%.

The middle of the week saw the most significant surge in reservation bookings on the Toast Tables platform in Q3 2025, indicating that diners are breaking from traditional weekend-only dining patterns. While typically slower days saw larger increases in reservation bookings compared to last year, Saturday (26% of weekly reservations), Friday (21%), and Sunday (15%) still have the most booked reservations.

Breakfast and early bird dinner reservations boom

• The 9 a.m. breakfast slot saw the biggest year-over-year jump in reservations, up 19%. The 10 a.m. slot was just behind, seeing a 15% increase in reservations.

• The 4 p.m. "early bird" slot tied for the second-largest increase in reservations, up 15%. 

• Every hour from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. saw an increase in reservation bookings compared to the same period last year.

• Late-night dining took a slight hit, with reservations booked for 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. both dipping by 1%.

Breakfast reservations anyone? Diners are increasingly booking tables for breakfast and the early evening. The largest increase in bookings on the Toast platform in Q3 2025 occurred at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., while late-night reservations saw a slight decline.

So is 4 p.m. the new 6 p.m.? Not exactly. Those 4 p.m. bookings only accounted for about 4% of total reservations by hour. The classic dinner rush still reigns supreme: 6 p.m. remains the most popular hour to book by far, capturing nearly 30% of all reservations. It’s followed by 7 p.m. (19%) and 5 p.m. (18%), proving that the traditional dinner window is alive and well.

Midwest cities lead in full-service restaurant transaction growth

• Chicago, IL, and Milwaukee, WI, topped the list, with full-service restaurant transactions growing 3% year-over-year.

• New York, NY (+2%) and Boston, MA (+1%) also saw modest growth in full-service restaurant transactions year-over-year.

• Washington, DC (-5%) and Denver (-4%)  saw the largest declines in full-service restaurant transactions compared to Q3 2024.

While reservation bookings on Toast Tables increased, overall transactions at full-service restaurants in the U.S. (including dine-in, takeout, and delivery) remained relatively flat in Q3 2025 compared to Q3 2024.

When looking at individual cities, results were varied. While some major cities saw a pullback in full-service restaurant transactions, cities in the Midwest led the pack for year-over-year growth in Q3 2025. Both New York City and Boston also experienced slight transaction growth; Minneapolis, MN, and Tampa, FL remained flat compared to last year.

Evening traffic patterns shift earlier in major cities

Looking closer at the six major cities with flat or positive transactions that Toast explored, we see how diner traffic at Toast restaurants changed throughout the evening. At full-service restaurants in Q3 compared to last year, the early evening (4 p.m. - 7 p.m.) appears to be a key growth area for several cities, while late-night traffic has declined in many.

• Minneapolis full-service restaurant traffic experienced major growth at 5 p.m. (+5%), 6 p.m. (+10%), and 7 p.m. (+7%), but saw sharp declines late-night, dropping 9% at 10 p.m. and 12% at 11 p.m.

• Chicago saw consistent growth in full-service restaurant transactions from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., but experienced a 1% dip at 11 p.m.

• New York City full-service restaurant traffic grew 3% at 4 p.m., 5 p.m., and 6 p.m., before leveling off to 0% growth at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Late-night traffic also grew 1% from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. 

Full-service restaurant tips rebound slightly from 7-year low

After hitting a seven-year low last quarter, tips at full-service restaurants (FSRs) on the Toast platform saw a minor recovery in Q3 2025 to an average of 19.2%. Tips at quick-service restaurants remained steady again at 15.8%, marking Q3 the fourth quarter in a row of steady tipping averages.

• The average FSR tip was 19.2% in Q3 2025, a slight increase from the seven-year low of 19.1% in Q2 2025.

• Quick-service restaurant (QSR) tips remained flat at 15.8% in Q3 2025.

• Looking back, FSR tips peaked at 19.8% multiple times in 2021, while QSR tips peaked at 16.5%.

For another consecutive quarter, Delaware remained the best state overall for tipping, with a total average tipping percentage of 21.1% in Q3 2025, down from 22.4% in Q2 2025.

California is again at the bottom of the list for overall tips in Q3 2025, averaging 17.2%, the same as in Q2 2025.