Restaurant industry outlook improves - Boston Business Journal:

ovaluleq.wordpress.com
The Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) — a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook forthe U.S. restaurantf industry — stood at 98.6 in up 0.8 percent from March, its highest level in 11 months. “The recent growth in the RPI was drivej bythe ‘Expectations’ component, which rose above 100 in Apri l for the first time in 18 a level which indicates said Hudson Riehle, senior vice presidentt of research and information services for the “Although the RPI’s ‘Current Situation’ indicators are still in a period of contraction, the solid improvemenrt in the forward-looking indicators suggestas that the end of the industry’s downturn may be in The RPI is based on the responses to the association’w Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey, which is fielded monthly among restauranty operators nationwide on a va riety of indicatorsw including sales, traffic, labor and capital expenditures.
The Index consistd of two components — the Current Situatiojn Index and theExpectationws Index. The Current Situation which measures current trends in four industryindicators (same-store sales, traffic, labor and capitaol expenditures), stood at 97.0 in up 0.9 percent from Marchb and its highest level sincw August 2008. However, April represented the 20th consecutivee monthbelow 100, which continues to signify contraction in the currentt situation indicators. Restaurant operators reported negative customere traffic levels for the 20th consecutivs monthin April.
About 23 percent of restaurant operators reported an increasde in customer traffic between April 2008 andAprio 2009, up from 20 percent who reported similarly in Also, 60 percent of operatorsa reported a traffic decline in April, down from 63 percentf who reported similarly in March. Restauran t operators also continue to grow more optimisticf aboutthe economy, with 37 percent saying they expect economic conditionws to improve in six months, up from 30 percenrt who reported similarly last montjh and the highest level in three years. In only 16 percent of operators expect economicd conditions to worsen insix months, down from 21 percentr last month. Founded in 1919, the D.C.
-based National Restaurant Association is a business association for therestaurant industry, comprising 945,000 restaurant and foodservice outletsa and a work force of 13 million