Tuesday July 16, 2024, 09:07:07

Restaurants’ Rate of Market Share Gains Continues to Decelerate

By Mark Kalinowski

Data out today from the U.S. Census shows that restaurants’ market share (with grocery stores/supermarkets making up the other component) was 56.2% in June 2024. Putting a silver lining on it, this 56.2% figure is only -10 basis points below the all-time monthly record. However, it’s up by only +60 basis points year-over-year. This is the lowest year-over-year market-share gain for the restaurant industry since a +20 basis-point gain attained in July 2022.

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Monday July 15, 2024, 07:00:00

Kalinowski Restaurant Industry Same-Store Sales Index for Q2 Shows Top-Line Challenges

By Mark Kalinowski

With this report, we update our data-driven Kalinowski Restaurant Industry Index for Q2 2024 to +1.8%. This is the second-lowest quarterly showing since Q4 2020’s -2.2% — and that quarter was hit in part by the pandemic. Excluding last quarter’s (Q1 2024’s) +0.9% result, and looking at quarters not affected by the pandemic, we have to go back to Q4 2016’s weak +0.6% number to find a quarter as sluggish as Q2 2024 was. Clearly, some meaningful portion of consumers are modifying their restaurant spending habits. Multiple large restaurant companies have indicated that consumers from lower-income households, in particular, are becoming more conservative in their approach to restaurants.

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Thursday July 11, 2024, 08:54:19

Pricing Gap in Favor of Grocery Stores over Restaurants Stays at 300 Basis Points

By Mark Kalinowski

The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data shows that prices for food-at-home (grocery stores and supermarkets) rose by +1.1% in June — sequentially up by +10 basis points from May’s +1.0%. This +1.1% number compares with price for food-away-from-home (restaurants) that increased by +4.1% year-over-year in June (sequentially up by +10 basis points from May’s +4.0%). This marks the 16th month in a row for which restaurant pricing is outpacing grocery/supermarket pricing.

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