CONTINUING SLOWDOWN WORRIES RESTAURANTS

CASUAL CHAINS DOWN; QSRs BETTER

One month may be blamed on the weather, but as March numbers for most restaurant chains were equally dismal with February's, restaurant operators started to wonder if deeper factors like weaker consumer confidence may be cutting into their sales.

According to Nation's Restaurant News, many casual dining chains will now miss their first quarter projections, both on the top line and on the bottom line. The news is a little better at most quick service restaurants, where some are still seeing same-store sales increases. In some of the other periods that saw gas prices on the way up, there did appear to be a trend of people saving money by "trading down" in their out-of-home eating expenditures, and that might be happening again.

Among the losers are some of the biggest brands in the restaurant business from a variety of formats, including Red Lobster, Outback Steakhouse, and P.F. Chang.

For the rest of this article, go to http://ftp.media.radcity.net/ZSND/issues/april2007/C8222.pdf.

A great way to keep pulse on the economy and how it may affect your business is to watch the restaurant sector. This article goes on to state that while sit-down restaurants lost sales, that less-expensive QSRs (Quick Service Restaurants, or fast food if your from Texas) actually saw an increase in same store sales. What this means to you as a business owner is that you should consider promoting less expensive options for consumers while they're nervous about rising gas prices. -Curt