WASHINGTON Restaurant operators are expressing more confidence in the industry’s outlook, despite continued declines in same-store sales and customer traffic, according to the January results from the National Restaurant Association monthly Restaurant Performance Index.
Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the NRA’s research and knowledge group, said the Restaurant Performance Index, or RPI, for January showed that industry expectations rose above the 100 mark for the first time in nine months, even though the overall RPI dropped to 98.3, down 0.3 percent from December’s level.
Riehle said the report, which you can download here, showed that “operators are relatively optimistic about improving sales growth and economic conditions in the months ahead, and their capital spending plans rose to the highest level in five months.”
The RPI, which is based on responses to the NRA’s Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey, measures the health and outlook of the restaurant industry on a monthly basis through such indicators as traffic, labor and capital expenditures.
View a video here of Riehle’s summary of January’s RPI.
Contact Elissa Elan at [email protected].
