With about two-thirds of chains having reported, same-store sales in the first quarter this year are barely above even, according to preliminary data compiled by Technomic Inc. With 46 of the approximately 70 chains reporting, Technomic’s weighted average less McDonald’s was up only 0.14% for the quarter compared with the first quarter in 2012. The…

The foodservice market in the United Kingdom is beginning to improve, according to Peter Backman, managing director at Horizons, the London-based foodservice research firm, which held its annual briefing on May 1.While the nadir of the foodservice recession in the U.S. was 2009, in the United Kingdom it was 2011-12, reports Backman. He estimates the…

A soft economy, gas price increases and inclement weather clipped restaurant operator sales in Canada in the first quarter, according to the latest Canadian Restaurant & Foodservices Association Restaurant Outlook Survey. While the percentage of operators reporting improved same-store sales held steady at 33%, the percentage that said sales fell compared to the year earlier…

Buoyed by strong improvements in same-store sales and traffic in March, the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index moved back in positive territory in the March report, released April 30. The overall Index stood at 100.6, after dipping just below the 100 level that separates expansion from contraction in February. The Index now has been…

Overall state tax revenues increased by 5.2% in the fourth quarter of 2012, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government reported April 24. But the Institute’s researchers warned that the surge, which drove personal income tax collections up 10.8%, was a one-time event prompted by taxpayers taking actions to minimize federal tax liability they expected…

The disparity between price gains at grocery stores and restaurants continued to increase in March, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index, released April 16. Prices for food-at-home fell 0.1 point in March, while those for food-away-from-home rose 0.2% in the month.  For the past 12 months, grocery store prices…

“Consumer confidence was not negatively affected by the Boston Marathon bombing,” said Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers’ Chief Economist Richard Curtin, in releasing final statistics on consumer indicators for April last week. “Although confidence posted significant declines in early April, it began to improve prior to the bombing and gained strength throughout the…

Restaurant traffic fell 1% for U.S. Hispanics last year, as higher than average unemployment as well as demographic differences among the ethnic group led to a loss of 86 million visits, according to data from The NPD Group’s “CREST Hispanic.” For the country as a whole, traffic rose 1% last year. In contrast, even though…

If you just saw the top line numbers for retail sales and the Producer Price Index, reported by the Bureau of the Census on April 12, you may have thought sales and wholesale prices fell in March. In fact, foodservice and drinking place sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% compared with February, the first gain…

While restaurant traffic involving adults rose 1% in 2012, thanks mostly to a gain in breakfast occasions, visits by parties with children remained flat last year, according to The NPD Group. Visits by parties with kids have been flat for two consecutive years after declines from’08 to ’10. Because adult-only visits account for 68% of…