4Q Sales Rose In Nearly All Major Global Markets

Despite political and economic turmoil in many of the world’s major foodservice markets, sales and customer traffic rose, according to the latest data from The NPD Group’s CREST studies. Traffic rose more than 2% in Australia, China and Great Britain, and also was positive in Spain, Italy and the U.S. Traffic in France had been trending positive before the Paris terrorist attacks, the research group said, but ended the quarter on the negative side.

Average checks also rose in all the aforementioned countries. Customer visits fell 5% in Russia, but an 8% jump in average check, fueled by inflation, kept sales positive. Traffic in Canada, which is also affected by the drop in oil prices, was off but again, overall sales rose. Traffic also fell in Japan.

Quick-service accounted for nearly all the traffic growth in all countries tracked by NPD. The firm said full-service restaurant visits declined in Australia, Canada, China, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the U.S.

“Unfortunately, the last quarter of 2015 didn’t bring the best of conditions or a high enough level of consumer confidence to bolster more growth for the global foodservice industry,” said NPD Senior V.P.-Global Foodservice Bob O’Brien. “But hope springs eternal with the New Year and there are signs in place that the global foodservice industry will continue to recover, albeit slowly.”

The firm also announced that it has begun tracking consumer foodservice behavior in two new markets: South Korea and Brazil, bringing the number of markets it tracks to 13.