Corporate credit card useage up at McDonalds

Corporate credit card use up at McDonald’s

Even when the boss is paying, travelers go for fast-food

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By Catey Hill

Shutterstock.com

Goodbye, filet mignon. Hello, Filet-O-Fish.

Armed with a corporate credit card, you’d think businesspeople would hit up Peter Luger’s or Ruth’s Chris Steak House — or at the very least Outback or Longhorn. But it turns out, they’re far more likely to opt for Big Macs and pumpkin spice lattes than for fancy steaks and fine wines.

A survey released Tuesday by expense-management-software firm Certify, found that although average per-meal spending at the most-expensed restaurants has risen (to $18.72 in the third quarter, from $16.72 in the three months prior), many travelers were still opting for cheap fast-food options.

Businesspeople — presumably craving multiple shots of espresso to help them through those endless meetings — go to Starbucks far more than any other food establishment, and nearly 5% of all their food expenses go toward that Frappuccino fix. McDonald’s /quotes/zigman/233369/quotes/nls/mcd MCD -0.16% comes in second, with nearly 3% of their food spending, while Subway and Panera Bread get the third and fourth spots.

Rank	Restaurant	Average purchase	Proportion of all food spending
1	Starbucks	$9.51	4.93%
2	McDonald’s	$7.45	2.95%
3	Subway	$14.09	1.88%
4	Panera Bread	$35.35	1.55%

Working stiffs, it seems, love to open their wallets for a carbo-load: While they hit up Starbucks /quotes/zigman/20720/quotes/nls/sbux SBUX -1.00% and McDonald’s more frequently than Panera /quotes/zigman/65095/quotes/nls/pnra PNRA -0.59% , they spend more than three times the money per meal at Panera than at the other stores. What’s more, they spend almost as much at Panera on average ($35.35) as they do at pricier spots — Longhorn Steakhouse ($36.94), Bonefish Grill ($47.85), Cheesecake Factory /quotes/zigman/69373/quotes/nls/cake CAKE -0.49% ($38.95) and PF Chang’s ($42.73).

There are regional differences in food spending as well. While in most cities, Starbucks beats out the competition, in New York City, businesspeople prefer Seamless, a service that delivers orders from a wide selection of nearby restaurants (it accounts for more than 7% of all expensed meals), to Starbucks. And in Atlanta, HMS Host edges out the coffee chain. In Dallas, it’s all about the flair, with TGI Friday’s beating out McDonald’s for the No. 2 most-expensed meal (though Starbucks is still No. 1).

So what’s with the dominance of these fast-food chains on the list? It’s “due to traveling employees being on the go, and in most cases traveling solo and looking for a quick and convenient place to eat,” says Certify’s CEO Robert Neveu.

It might also be your bosses’ fault. While business profits are up, “businesses are tighter with their business travel budgets than prior to the recession,” says Andy Brennan, an industry analyst with IbisWorld.

Thanks, boss. Drive-thru here we come.