The MAFSI Business Barometer maintained by the Manufacturers’ Agents Association for the Foodservice Industry rose 4.5% in the third quarter from the same quarter in 2012. The gain compares with a record 6.1% jump in the second quarter and a 2.4% increase in the first quarter, the weakest quarter since the Barometer recovered in late…

Strong gains in current same-store sales and traffic propelled the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index to 100.9, up from 100.2 in September. It was the highest level for the overall index in the past four months. The gain came in spite of the partial shutdown of the federal government for half of October and…

A strong quarter at full-service restaurants helped drive overall same-store sales gains in Canada during the third quarter, according to the latest Restaurant Outlook Survey from the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association. Operators remain moderately optimistic about prospects during the next six months. The overall percentage of foodservice operators who reported rising same-store sales in…

The U.S. economy added another 203,000 non-farm payroll jobs in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Dec. 6. Gains now have averaged more than 200,000 a month for the past four months. The gains were broad-based with good gains in construction and manufacturing. Even government added 7,000 jobs. Foodservices and drinking places added another…

The partial shutdown of the federal government and the debt-ceiling standoff apparently had little impact on restaurant sales. According to preliminary data from the U.S. Census Bureau, eating- and drinking-place sales hit a record $46.3 billion in October, up nearly 1%. That number was up from a downwardly revised September figure of $45.9 billion and…

Food prices at the wholesale level rose for the fifth month in the last six, according to October data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released last week. The combined wholesale increase, as computed by the National Restaurant Association, was 0.3% compared with September. This number averages a gain of 0.8% at the finished level,…

Among other economic recent data pertinent to foodservice and foodservice equipment and supplies: Blue Chip Economic Indicators consensus forecasts, released late this month because of the delay in government data, showed little change in the key gross-domestic-product, disposable-income and consumer-spending forecasts. The forecast for real GDP growth rose 0.1 point to 1.7% in 2013 and…

Everyone snacks, but not everyone does it the same way. A new study of consumer between-meal eating and drinking patterns analyzes the differences in five rapidly growing foodservice markets. The NPD Group study, International Food and Beverage Habits in Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico and China, charts a wide array of food and foodservice behaviors. In…

The pace of economic growth should pick up in most of the world’s economies next year, according to the latest consensus forecasts from 50 major U.S.-based economic forecasting groups polled by Blue Chip Economic Indicators. Growth of real gross domestic product is expected to speed up as much as a full point or more in…

Foodservice operator growth in the United States has slowed during 2013, according to the latest forecasts from Chicago-based Technomic Inc. But the research firm foresees moderate acceleration in growth next year. The latest Technomic forecasts plot total industry growth for ’13 at 3% in current dollars, with real growth forecast at 1%, factoring out 2%…