Is the Deciding Factor for Choosing a Restaurant Actually "〇〇" Rather Than "Price"? Survey Results on Family Dining Out Released!

KADOKAWA Corporation (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Director, Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO: Takeshi Natsuno) operates 'Yomeruba', a site that supports children's reading. It is a web media that disseminates various information to children, parents, and those who work with children.

When you want to refresh on a holiday or take a little break from making daily meals, 'dining out' with the family is a very reliable option. However, when it comes to actually taking children out to eat, many people may feel a different kind of exhaustion than eating at home, worrying about things like 'Will they make a fuss?', 'What should I feed them?', and 'They might not be able to wait'. This time, we conducted a questionnaire survey among Yomeruba members about 'family dining out'. We will introduce the survey results and comments from everyone, including what kind of restaurants they choose, for what reasons, what they devise when dining out, and their concerns.

● Survey Overview
- Survey content: Survey on 'family dining out'
- Survey method: Internet survey (posted on the Yomeruba website)
- Target audience: Yomeruba members
- Survey period: April 1, 2026 - April 30, 2026
- Number of valid responses: Out of 747 valid responses, the results of 436 who answered 'We dine out as a family including children' are posted.
* When using the survey results from this release, please be sure to specify [Yomeruba Survey].

● Survey Summary
- About 80% of respondents regularly use dining out for 'lunch' and 'dinner'.
- Popular restaurants are family restaurants and conveyor belt sushi.
- The deciding factors for choosing a restaurant are 'children's preferences' and 'price'.

[Questionnaire Survey Results on Family Dining Out]
1. When do you dine out with your family?
Following 'When going out' and 'Anniversaries', 'When I want to take a break from making meals' ranked 3rd.
First, we asked when families dine out. The most common answer, given by over 70% of people, was 'When going out', indicating that many families eat out as part of shopping or outings. Next, 'Anniversaries such as birthdays' accounted for more than half, and the answer 'When I want to take a break from making meals' also reached about half. Comments from respondents included, 'When we go out on weekends, it's a hassle to make dinner, so we end up dining out', suggesting that dining out is utilized as a means to lighten the burden of daily chores.

2. How often do you go out to eat with your children? (By time of day)
The frequency of dining out varies greatly depending on the time of day.
We also investigated the frequency of dining out with children and found differences depending on the time of day. For 'lunch', 'about 2 to 3 times a month' was the most common at 28.8%, while those who 'hardly ever do' remained at 16.2%, resulting in over 80% dining out for lunch. For 'dinner', 'about 2 to 3 times a month' (23.7%) and 'about once a month' (25.6%) occupied the top spots. The answer 'hardly ever do' was about 20%, meaning about 80% also dine out for dinner with some frequency.
On the other hand, for 'morning' and 'snack' times, more than half answered 'hardly ever do', showing that fewer people regularly use dining out for these times compared to 'lunch' and 'dinner'.
There were also comments like, 'They are busy with lessons, so we often go after games. If we get home late, it affects the next day, so we reserve a restaurant on the way home where we don't have to wait and can eat quickly', showing how dining out is incorporated according to the family's lifestyle.

3. What kind of restaurants do you go to when dining out with your family?
Restaurants with a wide variety of menus ranked high.
So, what kind of restaurants are chosen for family dining out? The top contenders were 'Family restaurants (77.3%)' and 'Conveyor belt sushi (75.0%)', which garnered support from over 70%. Following them, 'Fast food restaurants' and 'Food courts' each gathered about 60% support. Restaurants that can be chosen according to the preferences of each family member, from small children to adults, seem to boast overwhelming popularity. Other comments included, 'Recently, we value udon shops and conveyor belt sushi where the serving speed is fast and children can start eating immediately', and 'Conveyor belt sushi is recommended because even after eating, they don't get bored looking at the revolving sushi or using the touch panel', indicating that not only the variety of the menu but also the serving speed and entertainment value that keeps children from getting bored are supported.

4. What points do you emphasize when choosing a restaurant for family dining out?
Whether it's within budget and has what the children want to eat are major points.
Let's look closer at the points everyone emphasizes when choosing a restaurant from among many eateries. The number one point, chosen by over 70%, was 'Has food the children like (73.6%)', followed by 'The price is affordable (64.0%)' in second place. Others included 'Has a parking lot (49.8%)', 'Short waiting time (44.5%)', and 'Has table seating (33.9%)', showing that many emphasize points that make dining with children even a little smoother. In the free answers, several people mentioned 'Can we enter with a stroller?' and 'Do they have baby chairs/kids chairs?' as points for choosing a restaurant.

5. What do you refer to when choosing a restaurant for family dining out?
When asked what they refer to when choosing a restaurant, over half cited 'Children's wishes (56.4%)' and 'Own past experiences (e.g., it was good when used before) (52.5%)', ranking at the top. Next were 'Family opinions' and 'Looking at the menu and atmosphere at the storefront', both at 45.6%. This shows that whether the children and family will happily eat and whether they want to go again are more important points for choosing a restaurant than word-of-mouth or media information. Some comments said, 'We tend to go to the same restaurants', but others felt the merit that 'If you make it a regular spot, the staff will treat the children kindly'. On the other hand, many voices expressed difficulty in finding a restaurant everyone can enjoy safely, such as 'My child has allergies, so choosing a restaurant is difficult' and 'Since we have a large family, it's hard to find a place that has dishes to suit everyone's tastes, where we can eat calmly, and the prices are affordable'. Because it's hard to find a restaurant, many people might visit their favorite restaurants repeatedly.

'Can't taste it slowly...' Real worries unique to dining out
6. Do you have any troubles or worries when dining out with your family?
While dining out with family is fun, there is no end to troubles and worries. The most common worry in the survey was 'Prices are high', answered by over 40%. It is clear that the recent wave of rising prices is directly hitting family dining tables.
Many parents also face hurdles other than money when with children, such as 'Worrying about bothering others around us (32.1%)' and 'It's hard to eat while looking after the children (31.0%)'. Also, the 4th ranked 'Waiting time until entering the store or until the food comes out (29.6%)' seems to be a major issue for family dining out. Many people devise ways such as 'Entering the store avoiding crowded times as much as possible' and 'When going out to eat, I bring books for the waiting time or to kill time after the children finish eating'.
One person expressed, 'Because I have a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, dining out is a battle of "how not to bother others and how parents can taste the food even a little"'. You can feel the struggles of parents who are tense, trying to enjoy the meal while not bothering other customers during their precious dining out experience.

Yomeruba also publishes survey results on dining out budgets by time of day, devices practiced when dining out, and information people want to know about family dining out.
Click here for details of the survey results
https://yomeruba.com/plus/life/survey/entry-214515.html
This concludes the introduction of the questionnaire survey results on 'family dining out'.

[About Yomeruba]
'Yomeruba', operated by KADOKAWA, is a web media that disseminates various information to children, parents, and those who work with children.
To encourage children to engage in reading on their own, we publish many trial readings of new popular children's books and limited serializations. We also deliver articles that nurture all kinds of interests and curiosity, such as educational, lifestyle, and entertainment content to enjoy as a parent and child.
For Yomeruba members (free registration), we provide content such as articles supervised by experts that address child-rearing worries like education and development, character coloring pages and quizzes to enjoy with children, and campaign information, not only for parents but also for nursery teachers, kindergarten teachers, and school teachers.
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