It’s a common refrain on social media feeds and in news outlets and probably even your own kitchen table: Things have gotten so darn expensive lately. And if that conversation is indeed taking place at your kitchen table, it’s probably because going out to eat has gotten pretty darn expensive, too.

At Marketplace, we’ve talked about the split among consumers that characterizes a K-shaped economy a lot recently. And that trend is reflected in how consumers are eating out, if they can even afford to. For more, “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio was joined by Robert Byrne, director of consumer and industry insights at Technomic. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

David Brancaccio: So some economists see the graph of the U.S. economy shaped like the letter K, with the leg going up for some and going down for some. When you look at the industry that's out there for us, if we want to eat out or have to eat out, what are some of the ways you're seeing this divergence play out? Do you see it too?

Robert Byrne: Oh, we see it quite clearly. And the easiest way to understand it is to look at restaurant frequency. So households under $50,000 annual income, from 2019 to where we are today in 2025, that number has dropped from about 63% who use restaurants weekly down to about 58%. If you go on to the other side of the scale and look at six-figure income homes, that number has been even at 80%.

Brancaccio: Well, just among fast food places, many are offering what they would call value items, and that might be an alternative. But there are some things on the menu just getting more expensive, and that's hard for many families.

Byrne: Oh, it's incredibly difficult. And the unfortunate truth for restaurants is they still remain a bit of a luxury for consumers. Consumers do not need to dine at restaurants or order restaurant foods in order to survive. People are looking for experiences. They're looking for something new, something tasty, something that they can't make at home. And if restaurants just are presenting a cheaper option as opposed to a more enticing option, well, it just becomes less appealing.

Brancaccio: Now, fancy restaurants, right? That demand must be inelastic. If you're rich enough to go to a place that's going to cost you $150 a head or more, if you have that kind of money, you're just going to go anyway. But do you have any data on nice enough sit-down restaurants that aren't necessarily chains? Are people going there?

Byrne: To local, independent restaurants that are nice enough? Yeah. People are always going to have special occasions. The unfortunate issue there is that we still see a lot of the hangover from the pandemic creating issues and local independents closing down. But that high-income consumer? Oh, they're absolutely keeping a lot of those places afloat.

And younger diners are doing what we like to call “impact spending.” So essentially, rather than going out to a work lunch three days a week, two days a week — what might have historically taken place and what value meals might have helped them attain — we're now seeing them sort of save up for that impact occasion, that occasion that is a little more special. And so they are absolutely engaged with restaurants that are good enough, and sometimes, you know, little bit more expensive than good enough.