Brunch sits between a routine meal and a social occasion. Available research shows substantial restaurant demand, strong preferences for familiar foods, and growing interest from operators in extending breakfast beyond traditional hours. The figures below cover Canada and the United States, with measurement years ranging from 2010 to 2025.
Contents
- Brunch frequency and favorite foods
- Canadian brunch habits
- Where consumers buy breakfast and brunch
- Spending at full-service restaurants
- Brunch, eating out, and diet
- Celebrations and Mother’s Day demand
- The breakfast and brunch market outlook
Brunch frequency and favorite foods
An AYTM brunch survey measured when respondents had most recently eaten brunch at a restaurant. Five percent had gone out for brunch in the previous day, while 11% had done so in the previous week. Fourteen percent had eaten brunch at a restaurant within the previous month, and 9% had done so within the previous three months. Another 9% said their last brunch was within the past year, while 14% said it was more than a year earlier. These are survey responses, not a population estimate of restaurant visits.
Brunch was a favorite meal of the day for 9% of AYTM respondents. Breakfast ranked higher at 38%, suggesting that people may value breakfast while using “brunch” for a narrower social or restaurant occasion.
Food preferences were led by familiar breakfast ingredients. In the AYTM survey, 66% said they normally enjoyed eggs at brunch, and 63% ate meats. Fruit was enjoyed by 57%, while 45% chose baked goods. Sandwiches were selected by 37%.
| Food or meal preference | Share of AYTM respondents |
|---|---|
| Eggs at brunch | 66% |
| Meats at brunch | 63% |
| Fruit at brunch | 57% |
| Baked goods at brunch | 45% |
| Sandwiches at brunch | 37% |
For a baking and coffee audience, the 45% figure for baked goods is especially relevant: pastries and other baked items were less common than eggs, meats, and fruit, but still appeared in the choices of nearly half of respondents.
Canadian brunch habits
The TABASCO Canada 2020 Brunch Report counted 186.7 million brunch-related late-morning restaurant occasions in Canada during 2019. The same report said Canadian foodservice spending on brunch was up by more than $230 million year over year. Both figures describe the Canadian market and relate to the report’s 2019 measurement period.
The report also found that Canadians said they spent an average of 35% of their food budget on eating out or on the go. That broader spending measure is not limited to brunch, but it places restaurant brunch within a substantial away-from-home food habit.
Traditional dishes dominated reported brunch choices. Fifty-eight percent of Canadians typically chose foods such as eggs, bacon, and baked beans. By comparison, only 11% chose vegan or vegetarian brunch options. Fewer than 15% said they ate carbohydrate-based foods such as bagels, croissants, donuts, and sandwiches when brunching.
These percentages describe reported choices, and the categories may overlap. They should not be added together as if they represented separate groups. They do, however, show a clear preference in this Canadian report for recognizable savory breakfast foods, alongside a smaller reported share for vegan or vegetarian options and a separately measured share for listed carbohydrate foods.
Brunch also appeared in the context of food-centered socializing. In a Bake Magazine / St. Pierre Bakery survey, 46% of surveyed consumers said a first date should always include food. Thirty percent said they went to food markets for food-based dates, and 31% went to food festivals. American couples reported four food-based dates per month during the COVID-19 pandemic. That survey concerns food-based dating rather than brunch alone, but it illustrates how meals can function as a social activity as well as a way to eat.
Where consumers buy breakfast and brunch
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ BLS Meal Appeal Spotlight reported where consumers bought breakfast and brunch during a typical week in 2018. Fast food, take-out, delivery, concession stands, buffet, or cafeteria venues reached 23.0% of consumers. Full-service restaurants reached 9.3%. Vending machines or mobile vendors reached 0.9%, while employer and school cafeterias reached 1.8%.
The venue shares are not a complete map of every breakfast or brunch occasion; they identify the listed purchasing channels in the BLS study. Still, the comparison shows how much more common fast-food and similar venues were than full-service restaurants in that measurement.
The BLS figures also compared breakfast and brunch with other meals bought from full-service restaurants in a typical week. Breakfast and brunch reached 9.3% of consumers, compared with 20.3% for lunch and 28.3% for dinner. Snacks and nonalcoholic beverages reached 7.9%.
At fast-food and similar venues, consumers spent $13 per week on breakfast and brunch in 2018. The corresponding figures were $22 for lunch and $30 for dinner. At employer and school cafeterias, breakfast and brunch spending was $7 per week, while vending machines and mobile vendors produced $6 per week in the BLS comparison.
The data shows a useful distinction between reach and spending. A venue can serve fewer consumers while generating higher average weekly spending among those measured. Full-service restaurants provide the clearest example.
Spending at full-service restaurants
Consumers spent $29 per week on breakfast and brunch at full-service restaurants in the 2018 BLS study. That was lower than the $37 spent on lunch and the $64 spent on dinner, but higher than the $13 spent on snacks and nonalcoholic beverages.
| Full-service restaurant occasion | Weekly purchase share | Weekly spending |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast and brunch | 9.3% | $29 |
| Lunch | 20.3% | $37 |
| Dinner | 28.3% | $64 |
| Snacks and nonalcoholic beverages | 7.9% | $13 |
Age differences were modest for breakfast and brunch spending but clearer for other meals. Consumers under 65 reported an 8.7% weekly breakfast-and-brunch purchase rate at full-service restaurants, compared with 11.4% among those aged 65 and older. Both groups reported $29 in weekly breakfast-and-brunch spending.
For lunch, the under-65 group spent $37 per week and the 65-and-older group spent $36. For dinner, the figures were $65 and $58, respectively. The BLS results therefore show similar full-service breakfast-and-brunch spending for the two age groups, alongside a larger age gap in dinner spending.
Brunch, eating out, and diet
The USDA ERS Flexible Consumer Behavior Survey reported that the U.S. share of food budgets spent on food away from home surpassed the share spent on food at home for the first time in 2010, reaching slightly over 50%. In 1984, the away-from-home share was 41%.
Those figures describe the overall U.S. food budget, not brunch specifically. They help explain the environment in which restaurant breakfast and brunch operate: more than half of food-budget spending was allocated to food away from home in the 2010 estimate.
USDA ERS also estimated the dietary effect of replacing a home-prepared meal with a meal eaten away from home. For an adult, the substitution added about 134 calories to daily intake and lowered diet quality by about 2 points on the Healthy Eating Index. These are estimates about meal location, not a brunch-only result, so they should not be interpreted as the measured effect of every restaurant brunch.
Celebrations and Mother’s Day demand
OpenTable’s Mother’s Day 2024 data showed that 43% of all dining happened during brunch hours, defined there as 11:00 a.m. to 2:59 p.m. Mother’s Day was the biggest dining day of 2024, and the Saturday before it was the second-biggest dining day. In the same data, 54% of Americans planned to dine out for Mother’s Day: the shares were 65% for Gen Z, 64% for Millennials, 49% for Gen X, and 39% for Baby Boomers.
Sixty-two percent of respondents planned to spend more at a restaurant, bar, or cafe than the year before. Thirty-one percent of celebrated American moms considered dining out multiple times, while 26% of Americans wanted no phones or tablets at the table.
OpenTable’s 2024 Top 100 Brunch Restaurants list was compiled from more than 14 million diner reviews and covered 29 states plus Washington, D.C. California had 13 restaurants on the list. These are characteristics of that ranking, not a census of all brunch restaurants.
OpenTable’s 2025 Mother’s Day survey found that 73% of moms wanted a family brunch with their children, and 66% of U.S. consumers planned to celebrate Mother’s Day multiple times over the weekend. Thirty-nine percent of moms said they had to book their own celebratory meal, while 44% said having someone else lead the decisions made the day most special. Thirty percent considered dining out solo part of their celebrations, and 46% wanted to start celebrations early to maximize relaxation time.
Noon was the most popular Mother’s Day dining time in 2025, while 10 a.m. recorded the most growth, up 19% year over year. Sixty-four percent of moms said a waterfront or scenic view was their top restaurant wish-list item, and 51% said a chef’s tasting menu was a must-have.
The OpenTable Top 100 Brunch Restaurants 2025 list used more than 10.5 million reviews collected from January 1 through December 31, 2024. Its methodology included diner ratings, the percentage of five-star reviews, alerts set, the percentage of reservations made in advance, the percentage of capacity, and direct searches.
The breakfast and brunch market outlook
Technomic’s 2024 Breakfast Multi Client Study put foodservice breakfast sales at $117.9 billion in 2021, up from $114.3 billion in 2019. The study also found that 81% of operators offering breakfast considered it a good opportunity for innovation. Most operators expected to raise menu prices by 6% to 10% in 2024.
Technomic’s Expectations for Away-From-Home Breakfast in 2024 reported that 67% of surveyed operators believed consumers were very price-sensitive during morning hours. Average breakfast-item prices rose 17.4% in top 500 limited-service chains over two years and 13% in top 500 full-service chains over two years. Forty-two percent of foodservice operators had extended breakfast hours at least one day per week.
Demand outside conventional morning hours was a major theme. Eighty percent of operators thought brunch menus would be more popular in the years ahead, and 84% believed customers wanted breakfast items outside normal breakfast hours.
The NRN State of Breakfast and Brunch 2025 report gave a mixed year-to-date traffic picture. Twenty percent of operators said breakfast or brunch traffic had increased significantly, and 35% said it had increased slightly. Twenty-nine percent said traffic remained flat, while 6% said it had decreased significantly. When asked about new menu development, 55% said they would build a new breakfast item around proteins such as bacon and sausage.
Together, these operator measures point to a market balancing opportunity and pressure. Brunch has room for innovation and broader service hours, while price sensitivity and higher menu prices remain important parts of the operating environment.