MRM Research Roundup: Mid-July 2021 Edition

This edition of MRM Research Roundup features the latest news on restaurant recovery, delivery trends, top ice cream toppings and the ideal "delivery doughnut."Remarkable ResiliencyThe U.S. restaurant industry has shown remarkable resiliency, having lost as much as 35 percent of visits at the beginning of the pandemic, but still has a ways to go to get back to pre-pandemic levels, reports The NPD Group. Total restaurant visits were down -6 percent in May 2021 compared to May 2019 but were up +23 percent from a year ago, recovering from a -23 percent decline in May 2020. The key to the industry's recovery will be the strength of each daypart. Each daypart — morning meal, lunch, dinner, and P.M. Snack — will recover differently depending on the new rhythms of home, school, and work-life according to NPD's continual tracking of the U.S. foodservice industry.

Visits, online or physical, at morning meal, which includes the breakfast and A.M. Snack periods, were down -5 percent…