Higher Average Checks Buoy Spending In Most Global Markets, Reports NPD

Increases in average check size helped consumer spending on foodservice grow in the second quarter 2014 in many of the 11 markets The NPD Group follows, despite flat or declining traffic counts. Among the major developed markets, only the United Kingdom and Australia saw traffic gains in the quarter. Visits were down slightly in the U.S. and off 1% in Canada. Traffic also rose in both Russia and China in the second quarter. All comparisons are again the same quarter a year ago.

Supply-chain food-safety issues suppressed quick-service traffic in both China and Germany. While overall traffic rose 2% in China, it fell 1% in Germany, which had finally seen a traffic gain in the first quarter this year. The other big news was improvement in the foodservice market in Spain. While traffic remained slightly negative last quarter, overall foodservice spending only fell 1%, much better than the 5% spending decline of a year ago.

Russia posted the strongest spending gain during the period, up 5%, with Australia’s spending rising 4.1%. Spending rose 2.4% in the U.S. and 2.9% in Canada, in spite of the traffic declines. All markets except Spain and Italy, where traffic fell 2%, showed gains in foodservice spending.

“Globally, without better performance from quick-service restaurants and more demand from consumers at lunch, the industry will continue to eddy about, growing here and declining there, with no clear direction,” said Bob O’Brien, global senior v.p. at NPD.

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