More Carryout Dinners, Less Home Cooking (1/2)

The trend to build bigger, fancier kitchens might lead you to assume there's lots of cooking going on. Not if you ask restaurateurs. Restaurant industry statistics show that most people aren't getting much use out of their slick new appliances and granite counters. The number of dinners made at home from scratch continues to freefall. It dropped another 7 percent over the last two years, and now accounts for 32 percent of all evening meals in the U.S., according to the National Restaurant Association. That's good news for owners of casual or family restaurants, such as Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar, who are geared up to sell carryout meals and have staff to run out to the curb to hand customers meals prepared just nanoseconds before. "It's clear that there's an ever-increasing amount of carryout," said Ed Lump, president of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association. "People come home from work and they don't want to cook." Most of the newer free- standing restaurants, such as P.F. Chang's, Boston's the Gourmet Pizza and Romano's Macaroni Grill, were built with special carryout accommodations. Customers call ahead or order online and provide the make of their car and the license plate number. Parking stalls are designated for carryout customers and surveillance cameras alert the staff when the customer has arrived so they can run out with the bag and the bill. Many casual and family restaurants that have been around for a while are installing new equipment and doing whatever it takes to make it easier for carryout customers. Jim Martine, who owns the two Pedro's restaurants in Madison, said up to 15 percent of his business is carryout, and that percent is growing quickly. "I get a lot of cars filled with kids in uniforms after sports practices. Everyone is tired and they don't want to sit down in a restaurant. They want to go home." For restaurants, offering takeout is one thing. Making it convenient for customers is another. "You can get takeout from almost any restaurant," Lump said, "but restaurants can no longer rely on the assumption people will know they offer carryout and can do it well. "Restaurants have to invest in advertising to let people know they offer carryout. They also have to invest in better carryout containers, sturdier and better-looking and reusable. And they need a lot a of them." Staff is a consideration, too. "Restaurants will also have to dedicate a server to the carryout business," Lump said. "You can't pull a regular server from the dining room to run out to the curb. If somebody flashes their car lights I can run out a couple of times. But I can't run out to a couple hundred cars without adding extra staff. Servers dedicated to carryout also have to be paid more because they usually don't get tips." Menu changes could occur, too, incorporating more foods that travel well. The takeout favorites at Pedro's are fajitas, which are easy to transport. Families buy fajitas with chicken, steak, pork, shrimp and vegetables so everybody can get what they want, Martine said. To meet takeout demand at his restaurants, Martine recently invested $1,000 for a surveillance camera at each Pedro's, installed $500 neon signs, designated a door for drive-up, added an extra computer at the point of sale and upgraded his takeout containers. At Outback Steakhouse on Junction Road, a typical carryout tab for a family of four is $50, said Outback venture partner Greg Michals. "That's with salads, sides and bread. You compare that with an average bill of about $28 for four people at McDonald's. "Sometimes it's cheaper to get takeout when you figure the time it takes to shop, cook and clean up," he said. "My parents in Florida never cook. Never.