• March 31, 2009

Most restaurant operators continued to report negative same-store sales and customer levels in February, according to the National Restaurant Association.

The association's Restaurant Performance Index, a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the industry, was at 97.5 for the month. That was up just 0.1% from January, and marked the 16th consecutive month the index has remained below 100 - which signifies contraction.

For February, 56% of operators reported a same-store sales decline (up slightly from January's 55%) and 59% reported a traffic decline (flat with January).

The outlook or expectations portion of the index stood at 98.5, up just 0.2% from January. --Karlene Lukovitz