NPD report suggests poor restaurant traffic growth likely for long time
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SCOM] Sept. 26, 2014
The NPD Group has released a new report saying the gap between high and low income groups in the US is the widest it has been for 100 years, and the share of U. S. consumers who identify with the middle class has never been lower.
This bifurcation is having a significant impact on restaurant traffic. It is keeping visits to quick service restaurants flat in the past year. Visits to fine dining restaurants and casual dining have increased, but they represent too small a share of total visits to impact the overall problems with restaurant traffic.
Like other retail sectors, the restaurant industry is feeling the effects of this cultural and economic phenomenon, reports The NPD Group. One of the effects of income bifurcation is that visits to quick service restaurants, which have an average check size of about $5, were flat in the year ending June 2014 compared to same period last year, and visits to fine dining restaurants, which have an average check size of $40, were up 3 percent. Total restaurant industry traffic was flat for the period.
The challenge is that about 80 percent of restaurant visits are at quick service restaurants...
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