While the strong performance of full-service restaurants like Chili’s has boosted the category, transactions remained flat overall and declined across nearly 70% of major cities for the third quarter, Toast data suggests.
According to the quarterly Toast Restaurant Trends report, full-service restaurants on the Toast servers in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York and Boston saw positive transaction growth, with Chicago in the lead at 3%, while Denver and Washington, D.C. transactions in the full-service dining category declined the most at -4 and -5%, respectively.
“Looking closer at the six major cities with flat or positive transactions that Toast explored, we see how diner traffic at Toast restaurants changed throughout the evening,” the report adds. “At full-service restaurants in Q3 compared to last year, the early evening (4 p.m. – 7 p.m.) appears to be a key growth area for several cities, while late-night traffic has declined in many.”
Beyond transactional growth, restaurants saw a spike in single-diner reservations, which were up 22% from Q3 2024 to Q3 2025, and in 9 a.m. breakfast reservations, which increased by 19% in the quarter.
“Diners are increasingly booking tables for breakfast and the early evening,” the report said. “The largest increase in bookings on the Toast platform in Q3 2025 occurred at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.”
Despite this boost in traffic during early morning and early evening hours, peak dinner rush (6 p.m.) appears to still have the lion’s share of Toast reservations. Additionally, 6 p.m. is where most major cities saw the biggest traffic boost. Conversely, late-night traffic declined in many major cities, including Minneapolis which saw a 12% decrease in traffic for the 11 p.m. hour.
When it comes to gratuities, Toast had previously reported that tipping hit a seven-year low in Q2 2025, which coincides with the consumer trend of tip fatigue. However, this quarter that all-time low of 19.1% rebounded slightly to 19.2%. Full-service tips peaked in 2021 at 19.8% and have been declining since.
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