Trends

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Chain Restaurants Realize First Quarter Same-Store Sales Increase

Technomic’s Financial Dashboard shows a strong increase among mid-scale restaurants during the first quarter of 2015.

Restaurant chains' same-store sales increased at a rate of 4 percent in the first quarter, compared to 0.8 percent a year earlier, according to data from Chicago-based Technomic.

Other data points shared by Technomic via its Financial Dashboard include:

  • Midscale restaurants' same-store sales increased by 5.8 percent in the first quarter, outperforming all other segments.
  • Fast-casual same-store sales softened in the first quarter to a 5.3 percent increase, compared to 8.2 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2014.
  • Overall, all industry segments have posted a significant increase in same-store sales compared to the same period a year earlier.

“Economic indicators continue to improve with unemployment rates now below pre-recession levels,” said Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Technomic. “With lower gas prices, improvement in the economy has increased disposable personal income levels for many American consumers in the lower- and middle-income groups. This has granted many Americans the discretionary income to increase their visits to family-style restaurants, which provide good family-dining occasions with hearty yet affordable meals.  As a result, the full-service family-dining segment in the industry bounced back in the recent year providing better-than-expected sales growth and improvement.”