NRA: Restaurant operators see gains in traffic
Monthly Restaurant Performance Index rises in February on reported sales increases
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Continued gains in same-store sales and customer traffic helped to boost optimism among foodservice operators and fueled an increase in the National Restaurant Association’s monthly Restaurant Performance Index for February.
The RPI, a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the foodservice industry, climbed to 100.7 in February, a 0.4-percent increase from its January level. February’s results mark the fifth time in the past six months the index stood above 100, a trend the NRA says reflects expansion in the index of key industry indicators.
“February’s RPI gain was driven by solid improvements in the same-store sales and customer traffic indicators,” said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the NRA’s Research and Knowledge Group. “Restaurant operators reported positive same-store sales and customer traffic results in February, after January’s results were dampened by extreme weather conditions in many parts of the country.”
The RPI slipped to 100.2 in January, down 0.8 percent from December.
Riehle also said operators’ outlook for capital spending hit a 40-month high in February and their expectations for staffing growth climbed to the highest level in almost four years.