More than half of restaurant operators are planning to increase their equipment and supply budgets in 2023, and 67% plan to make kitchen equipment replacements, according to a new study released by the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation.

The report, “Vertical Market Outlook Series: Restaurants,” provides an outlook of the restaurant sector in the U.S., including key trends and developments that will impact the sector over the next one to two years. The report is the ninth release of the ELFF’s Vertical Market Outlook Series, which is designed to help readers recognize and understand opportunities and challenges that may affect their businesses.

The report was commissioned by the ELFF and prepared by global advertising, technology and data company Big Village, which also produced the previous studies in the Vertical Market Outlook Series. The new study presents data and research from a variety of sources and examines a range of issues, including:

• The restaurant market landscape: definition and composition
• The macroeconomic environment, including how labor and government regulations impacting restaurants, as well as the impact of COVID-19, inflation, supply chain fluctuations, financing, and failures and bankruptcies
• Trends in equipment, the role of technology, design, innovative venues, dining, sustainability and generational differences.
• Case studies about artificial intelligence adoption and the Taco Bell Defy concept

“The study does an excellent job of surveying the restaurant landscape, the wide variety of restaurants in operation that could benefit from equipment finance, and the economic and market trends affecting them,” Tom Ware, research committee chair of the ELFF, said. “As with the previous releases in this Vertical Market Series, this study provides indispensable data and analyses for equipment finance professionals to use in their strategic planning.”