Operations

Restaurant traffic moderates in late August, fast-casual chains still outperform

Sweetgreen posted the strongest fast-casual performance among major chains, with visits 5.9% above its typical weekly average. Chopt visits fell 9.6% below average, Panera Bread was down 3.3%.

Source: Sweetgreen

September 14, 2026

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Restaurant traffic cooled during the week of Aug. 24-30 compared with the first half of 2026, according to data from Placer.ai, though most chains continued to run ahead of their year-to-date weekly averages.

Fast-casual visits dipped 0.4% below their first-half average for the week, while quick-service restaurants overall stayed 1.6% above their average. Full-service restaurants saw a steeper pullback, with visits down 5.5%.

Sweetgreen posted the strongest fast-casual performance among major chains, with visits 5.9% above its typical weekly average. That put it behind only Chick-fil-A, which led all chains at 9.8% above average, and ahead of McDonald's at 3%.

Other fast-casual brands didn't fare as well. Chopt visits fell 9.6% below average, Panera Bread was down 3.3%, and Taco Bell trailed by 6.1%, according to a Placer.ai news release.

"While most QSR and fast casual chains continue to run ahead of their H1 weekly averages, visitation trends moderated during the week of Aug. 24-30, 2026," R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai, said in the release.

Hottovy attributed the fast-casual slowdown in part to a comedown from "an unusually strong prior week fueled by promotions and new product launches," suggesting the dip may reflect a return to more typical traffic levels rather than a lasting trend.

Placer.ai's data is based on estimated visits to restaurant locations nationwide, drawn from a panel of tens of millions of devices and machine-learning models.