The two major indicators of consumer confidence reported mixed results in their final August indexes, though both remain at levels not seen since the beginning of the Great Recession. Meanwhile, gasoline prices are expected to rise as fears about the impact of a pending U.S. attack on Syria for the use of chemical weapons drives…

Poor weather and continuing economic malaise in Europe pushed the number of restaurant visits lower in the second quarter of 2013 in most of the 10 major foodservice markets tracked by The NPD Group. The numbers plot aggregate visits versus the year-prior quarter. Only Japan, China and Australia recorded traffic gains. Traffic surged 3% in…

Third-quarter revenue growth by the seven publicly reporting foodservice equipment and supplies companies were a very mixed bag, according to data compiled by John Muldowney, principal at Clarity Marketing and a marketing executive at the Boelter Cos. Still, blended sales of the companies were positive, with a gain of 3.2%, compared with 3Q/2012. Sales for…

Given that the September survey for the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index was conducted during the partial federal-government shutdown and debt-ceiling fight, the slight decline of the overall RPI is really quite remarkable. While same-store sales and traffic were off sharply and operator confidence about the future also declined, the overall index registered only…

The monthly jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics surprised nearly everyone Nov. 8, citing an addition of 204,000 jobs in October. The BLS also revised jobs growth for August and September, adding another 60,000 to the total. Thanks in part to inconsistencies in the way furloughed federal-government workers were counted in the establishment…

Wholesale food prices fell 0.5% in September, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while gasoline prices at the consumer level continued to fall. Both trends typically are positive for foodservice. In other economic news, consumer food and menu prices rose only slightly while eating- and drinking-place sales hit a new monthly record…

Just as nearly everyone expected, the federal government shutdown and debt-ceiling brinkmanship undercut consumer confidence. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index fell more than four points or 5.5% to 73.2 in the final October reading. This was down from 77.5 in September and 82.6 a year ago. The October reading was the lowest…

It’s a fact of foodservice life that wealthier households spend more eating out than others. The rule of thumb is half of foodservice spending is done by the top quartile of households, those with $75,000 or more in annual income. In this light, a study from an Atlanta-based group that tracks the attitudes and spending…

The Canadian economy and its foodservice market have been stagnant the past couple of years. Growth of real gross domestic product is forecast at 1.7% this year, after growing only 1.8% in 2012, according to Blue Chip Economic Indicators. This has contributed to sluggish foodservice growth. The NPD Group reported Oct. 22 that traffic for…

Nonfarm payrolls grew by a sluggish 148,000 jobs in September, according to the delayed federal employment report, released Oct. 22. Private-sector jobs growth was 126,000. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which produces the reports, revised jobs growth downward for July, but boosted it for August, leading to a 9,000 job gain over previous reports. The…