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NRA’s Mid-Year Review and Webcast Follow-Up
August 26, 2008
Most foodservice professionals are aware of the National Restaurant Association’s monthly Restaurant Performance Index (here's our summary for June), which measures operator progress in several key areas. This serves as a nice monthly barometer for what’s actually happening at the street level in the foodservice industry. In contrast, the association’s Mid-Year Review of the Restaurant Industry & Economy does an equally good job of painting a bigger picture.
The report is full of easy-to-read stats and here are a few that caught my eye:
• Eating and drinking places added 16,400 jobs in June, making that the 21st consecutive monthly gain.
• Employment gains in the restaurant industry are being driven by continued consumer spending, albeit at reduced rates.
• Real disposable personal income increased at an 11.3-percent annualized rate in the second quarter, its strongest quarterly gain in almost six years. (Of course, this coincided with the arrival of the economic stimulus checks in consumers’ mailboxes, so the bump may be short-lived.)
• And the restaurant industry expects to see positive real sales growth in the 4.2-percent to 4.5-percent range in 2008.
I know that the NRA’s role is to be an advocate for its operator members and to push the at-large industry forward. Still, this information was pretty encouraging none the less.
Webcast Recap
Thanks to everyone who participated in our webinar: “Foodservice E&S Fiscal Update & Industry Forecast.” And a special thanks to Technomic’s Kevin Higar for sharing his time and expertise.
I really found this to be an enjoyable exercise and hope that those listening got something out of it. If you missed the webcast but would still like to listen in, you will be able to do so in a couple of days. We will make that presentation available to visitors to our web site for free. So, stay tuned to this space for updates as they become available.
Posted by Joseph Carbonara on August 26, 2008 | Comments (0)