Restaurant sales in the United States have turned weak this year after a promising start, according to the NPD Group, a global market information service.
Summer (July, August and September) 2012 restaurant visits were flat compared to same period last year, according to NPD's foodservice market research. They were up two percent in August and then declined in September. NPD forecast that the restaurant industry will end 2012 with visits flat and spending up two percent.
When consumers did visit restaurants in the summer they chose quick fast food outlets, which saw their traffic gains one percent, according to NPD's CREST, which continually and rigorously tracks the foodservice industry based on consumer reporting of over 400,000 visits to foodservice outlets a year.
Fast food/quick service, coffee/donut/bagel, fast casual, retail, and Mexican chain concepts all fared especially well in the summer months. Yet visits to hamburger fast food places, which had been an industry driver in recent quarters, were flat in the quarter compared to the same quarter in 2011.
Full service restaurants continued to struggle this past summer.
Visits to midscale/family dining restaurants declined by two percent and the casual dining segments experienced visit declines of three percent. The price disparity between casual dining and fast food oulets, aggravated by, unemployment, and cutbacks in young adult spending, are factors.
