The National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index for June reported improvements in same-store sales and customer traffic, but the operator outlook for the longer-term remains softened, said Hudson Riehle, the National Restaurant Association senior vice president of research.
According to Riehle, the June RPI was at 101.6, up 0.5 percent from 101.2 in May.
Here are some of the economic and industry highlights for June:
Job growth
The industry continued to add jobs – 16,400 for the month. So far this year, the industry has added 221,000 jobs; that averages about 600 jobs per day. In addition, the industry’s employment growth rate was 1.9 percent, above the national employment growth rate of 1.6 percent.
Capital spending
Seventy-five percent of operators made a capital expenditure, such as remodeling their restaurant or purchasing new equipment, over the past three months. Another 58 percent said they expect to make a capital expenditure within the next six months.
The commodities market
Regarding wholesale food price inflation, that index edged down and increased at a 0.5 percent rate year-to-date thru June. This compares to a 1.7 percent annual increase in 2017. Prices on commodities groups, including eggs, beef, citrus and potatoes, increased on a year-to-date-basis while others declined. Those include:
- Fresh vegetables, down 14 percent
- Poultry, down 5 percent
- Pork, which decreased 3 percent; and
- Cheese, down 2 percent
Overall inflation continued to rise, advancing at a 2.5 percent rate year-to-date thru June.
The National Restaurant Association's Hudson Riehle provides an update on the latest Restaurant Performance Index and other economic indicators on YouTube.
Read the full U.S. Restaurant Performance Index Report
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