Our good friend Scott Hume ran a very interesting item in the Sept. 5 issue of his Burger Business e-newsletter. He reported that customer satisfaction with limited-service restaurants in the United Kingdom reached parity for the first time in satisfaction with full-service concepts, according to research from the National Customer Satisfaction Index. The research group…

Overall food prices at the wholesale level fell for the second month in a row, according the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index, released Sept. 13. While the index for so-called finished foods rose 0.6% in August, the index tracking prices of intermediate foods and feeds dropped 2.3%, while the…

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary reading of consumer sentiment in September, released Sept. 13, fell to 76.8, the lowest reading since April. The final August Sentiment Index stood at 82.1, down significantly from the post-recession highs seen in the May through July period. UM Surveys of Consumers Chief Economist Richard Curtin attributed the sharp…

If you missed the President’s Preview last month, you can still purchase the entire forecast for $1,295. It includes eight PowerPoint decks covering data and analysis of macro-economic, operator and materials-price trends as they impact the foodservice E&S market, as well as exclusive information on E&S manufacturer list-price trends from AutoQuotes. FER’s annual rankings of…

Sales of foodservice equipment and supplies posted surprisingly strong gains in the second quarter of 2013 versus the year-prior quarter, according to the MAFSI Business Barometer from the Manufacturers’ Agents Association for the Foodservice Industry, released last week. The 6.1% jump in sales was a record quarterly gain for the Barometer, which was first established…

While the results were mixed from company to company, seven publicly reporting foodservice equipment and supplies companies reported a combined second quarter revenue gain of 4.1%, compared with 2Q/2012, the strongest increase since the first quarter of last year. Sales of the five equipment-oriented companies rose 4.7% while the two supplies oriented companies managed a…

Declines in six of the eight components of the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index pushed the overall index down for the second consecutive month in July. The RPI fell 0.6 point to 100.7. But the index remained above the 100 level, indicating the industry continued to expand for the fifth month in a row.…

After a slow period in the first half of 2013, Foodservice Equipment Reports predicts growth of the foodservice equipment and supplies market will accelerate in the second half of this year and into 2014. The magazine unveiled its forecast during FER’s annual President’s Preview E&S Market Forecast meeting, held Aug. 7 at the Westin O’Hare…

List price increases for foodservice equipment, supplies and related products continue to moderate, according to data compiled by AutoQuotes Inc. for Foodservice Equipment Reports annual President’s Preview E&S Market Forecast. “There just hasn’t been much price inflation,” says AutoQuotes CEO Kent Motes. For the 12 months ended June 30, 2013, average list prices for 453,081…

The 100 largest manufacturers of foodservice equipment, supplies, furnishings and  related products grew combined sales 5.7%, according to data released during Foodservice Equipment Reports annual President’s Preview E&S Market Forecast meeting Aug. 7 in Rosemont, Ill. The growth rate beat that of the broad market by nearly two full points. FER estimates that E&S market…