Q1 Restaurant Visits Strongest Since Spring '08

  • June 6, 2012

U.S. restaurant visits rose 1% in 2012's first quarter versus the same period in 2011 -- the largest traffic gain since Spring 2008, reports The NPD Group.

However, the traffic gains were limited to the QSR and fine dining/upscale hotel segments, NPD's CREST foodservice industry tracking data show.

QSR visits saw a 2% gain in visits, and major WSR chains saw a 3% traffic increase. Fine dining/upscale hotel restaurants enjoyed a 6% traffic increase. 

However, visits to midscale/family dining restaurants were down 3%, and visits to casual dining restaurants were down 2%.

Also, traffic at non-commercial foodservice venues declined 2%. 

Looking at dayparts on an industrywide basis, the morning meal continued to perform best, with visits up 3%, and the PM snack segment growing 1%. Lunch and supper have been flat with year-ago periods for the past two quarters.

But QSRs saw traffic growth in every daypart, with the largest gain in the morning segment.

NPD attributed the increases primarily to mild winter weather, and predicts that, given continued slow economic growth, the rate of traffic growth will slow in the remainder of 2012.

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