News

Restaurant index: Traffic dips in April, same-store sales post a gain

June 12, 2019

U.S. restaurant traffic declined in April despite restaurant operators reporting a modest net increase in same-store sales, according to the National Restaurant Association’s Monthly Restaurant Performance Index, a monthly composite index which tracks the health of and the outlook of the U.S. restaurant industry and overall economy. The RPI stood at 100.1 in April, down 1.8 percent from a level of 101.9 in March.

While same-store sales readings were slightly positive in April, customer traffic turned negative. In addition, restaurant operators are less optimistic about both sales growth and the overall economy.

Menu prices increased 3.1% in the 12 months ending April 2019, which marked the first time in more than four years that menu-price growth topped the 3% threshold.

Looking forward, operators’ outlook for sales growth was dampened from a more bullish standpoint in recent months. In addition, they are generally pessimistic about the direction of the overall economy

Excluding February, the restaurant industry added more than 252,000 jobs between October 2018 and April 2019 — more than 42,000 jobs per month.

The economy added 263,000 jobs in April on a seasonally-adjusted basis, following a gain of 189,000 jobs in March. Even including a modest increase of 56,000 jobs in February, job growth averaged more than 207,000 positions during the last six months.