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…

Consumer sentiment fell sharply in the preliminary April reading by Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, surprising many economists. Combined with the decline in overall retail sales, the decline had forecasters worrying again about the negative impact of the payroll tax increase and the cutbacks in federal spending. The preliminary April Consumer Sentiment Index…

Behind the latest round of forecasts from the 50 economic groups surveyed each month by Blue Chip Economic Indicators is a bit of good news for foodservice operators: Disposable personal income growth should begin to improve, beginning in the second quarter of this year and on an annual basis, growing 2.5% in 2014, the best…

Better than expected fourth-quarter 2012 results and a distinct softening of foodservice operator sales in the first quarter of 2013 has prompted Foodservice Equipment Reports to revise its forecasts of the foodservice equipment and supplies market. With the seven publicly reporting E&S companies posting 3% sales growth in the fourth quarter and the MAFSI Barometer,…