Where does your state rank among tippers, lunch food costs?

What states have the best and worst tippers? And what foods were the most popular at quick-service restaurants across the U.S. and which states saw price increases?
Toast, a digital platform built for restaurants, provided some insights in its latest Quarter 2 2024 Restaurant Trends Report.
The report is generated using “aggregative data analysis” from a selection of restaurants in various U.S. cities on the Toast platform, which serves approximately 120,000 restaurant locations as of June 30, Toast said. It “offers a comprehensive view of transactional data and consumer behavior at Toast restaurants,” Toast Chief Marketing Officer Kelly Esten told USA TODAY.
Prices for food went up across the board. Esten said that “could be attributed to a combination of inflation and rising business costs. Our data shows a consistent year-over-year price increase for various lunch items at quick-service restaurants (QSRs), with sandwiches, bowls, burgers, and sodas seeing an average price increase of 4.6%, which may be indicative of market trends that inflation could influence.” A quick-service restaurant is an industry term for a restaurant that is casual and provides food quickly. It also usually has limited or no table service, or servers.
Esten said one of the things that surprised her was a shift toward breakfast in many cities.
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“We found that consumer spending at quick-service restaurants using Toast saw a noticeable shift toward breakfast and away from dinner and late-night transactions,” she said. Consumer spending at quick-service restaurants in 20 U.S. cities saw this trend, according to the report.
The city with the largest increase in breakfast transactions was Richmond, Virginia (up 15%). Oklahoma City (up 11%), Indianapolis (up 8%) and Philadelphia (up 8%) followed.
Cities with the largest decreases in dinner transactions were: Columbus, Ohio (down 9%), Minneapolis (down 8%), Austin, Texas (down 4%), Charlotte, North Carolina (down 4%), and Miami (down 4%).
Among late-night transactions, the cities with the biggest decreases were Oklahoma City (down 15%), Denver (down 9%), Seattle (down 9%) and Columbus (down 8%). 
Here are highlights from the latest report:
The states with the highest tips are:
The states with the lowest tips are:
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The most expensive sandwiches/wraps are in:
The least expensive sandwiches/wraps are in:
Toast also looked at how the increase of the California minimum wage for fast-food restaurant employees to $20 per hour on April 1 affected pay for other employees across the state in the food industry. To be covered under the law, employees must work for a fast food restaurant, defined as a restaurant that offers limited or no table service, has 60 or more establishments nationwide and primarily sells food and beverages for immediate consumption.
“Many quick-service restaurants in the state are exempt from this law (including some that may technically be ‘fast food restaurants’), though restaurant operators say they will likely need to offer similar rates to remain competitive,” Toast reported.
In June, cashiers at quick-service restaurants in California made a median hourly wage of $16.98, according to the report. Average tips for quick-service restaurant employees dipped in California when the legislation went into effect from $4.98 to $4.77 per hour in April 2024, the report said. “However, the trend line for tips per hour is similar to that of the national average, so it’s unclear from this data if the legislation had any meaningful effect on tips,” the report said.
Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her on X, Facebook or Instagram @blinfisher. Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which will include consumer news on Fridays,here.
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