Dinova and The BTN Group: Research Study Explores New Approaches to Meal Expense Management

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Jun 06, 2017, 11:37 ET

ATLANTA, June 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second consecutive year, Dinova, Inc., and The BTN Group have partnered on a joint industry research study, and today announced the results. Once again, the research finds that business dining is one of the more undermanaged areas of the corporate expense budget. Business dining spend historically has represented around 10% of overall annual T&E spend, but 44% of respondents indicated it represented 11% or more this year. This increase in spend offers the opportunity for significant cost savings efforts on the part of corporations nationwide.

According to the survey, 49% of respondents reported that his or her company spent $1 million or more on meals and entertainment in 2016. This number increased 9% over 2016 survey results. Despite the economic downturn in consumer spending, business dining continues to deliver high-margin guests to restaurants around the country. With the high amount of money rolling through corporate T&E on business dining spend, there's an opening to better manage the expense.

The business dining expense comes in a variety of ways, including out-of-town travelers, marketing and events, client entertainment, internal business catering and private dining. When asked to choose all restaurant types that are most frequented by business employees eating on expense accounts:

45% said fast-casual
26% said independent restaurants
18% said chain-dining establishments
15% said quick-service restaurants

When asked what percentage of meals and dining expenditures occur in employees' home market(s) versus business travel, only 10% of respondents indicated that 50% or more meal expenses are at home while 24% indicate less than 10% of meal spend is in home markets.

Similar to last year, 46% of respondents reported they have yet to focus on dining spend as an area of savings significance. And when it came to how often meal expenditures are reported to management:

42% said as requested by management
27% said monthly
16% said quarterly
7% said annually
18% said never

"Despite consumer traffic softening in the first quarter of 2017, business dining has increased year-over-year from 2015 to 2016, which makes it advantageous for travel managers to reclaim a portion of the overall company dining spend," said Vic Macchio, Founder and CEO at Dinova. "We estimate business dining spend in the U.S. to be around $60 billion annually, and the ability to manage this spend is critical in overall T&E savings."

"The research indicates that business travel and meal expenditures as a percentage of overall T&E are on the rise. Yet less than one-third of those surveyed have taken steps to better manage this spend category. Far too many corporations are missing opportunities for quantifiable savings on business dining expenses," said Louis Magliaro, The BTN Group senior vice president and group publisher. "Leading companies are trying some very innovative tactics and we look forward to sharing more insights with our audience as this area matures."

In addition to the survey results, Dinova and The BTN Group will host a free webinar that will take a New Approaches to Meal Expense Management. The webinar will take place Thursday, June 8, at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The webinar will include speakers from companies such as Eli Lilly, General Dynamics Mission Systems, Meritor, Inc., and Dinova.

For more information about the webinar, visit https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1147671&sti=PR

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Media Contact:
Heather Thompson
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Dinova (www.dinova.com) is the only company providing an innovative, proprietary marketplace exclusively focused on connecting expense account diners to quality restaurants nationwide. Dinova influences more than $6 billion annually in business meals and entertainment expenses, and has been the recent recipient of awards such as the Technology Association of Georgia's Top 40 Innovative Technology Company and Atlanta Business Chronicle Pacesetter. Participating companies range from millions of small to medium sized businesses to hundreds of Fortune 500 enterprises, and its 14,000+ restaurant network includes local independents as well as national full-service and limited-service restaurant brands, encompassing all price levels and cuisines.

SOURCE Dinova, Inc.