Friday February 13, 2026, 09:08:05
By Mark Kalinowski
The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data shows that prices for food-at-home (grocery stores and supermarkets) rose by +2.1% in January — sequentially down by -30 basis points since December’s +2.4%. This +2.1% number for January compares with price for food-away-from-home (restaurants) that increased by +4.0% year-over-year in January (sequentially down by -10 basis points from December’s +4.1%). This marks the 34th month in a row for which restaurant pricing is outpacing grocery/supermarket pricing.
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Thursday January 22, 2026, 07:00:00
By Mark Kalinowski
With this report, we update our data-driven Kalinowski Restaurant Industry Index for Q4 2025 to +1.6%. All in all, this ties for the second-best quarter since Q4 2023’s +3.6% result. But, it’s still over a percentage point below the long-term average, and does not imply any sequential improvement from Q3 2025. It has been a long two years for the domestic restaurant industry!
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Wednesday January 21, 2026, 07:00:00
By Mark Kalinowski
With this report, we update our data-driven Kalinowski Quick-Service Other Index for Q4 to +2.6%. Comparing to Q4 2019 levels – a pre-pandemic basis — the Kalinowski Quick-Service Other Index for Q4 2025 is at +23.1%. These numbers are based on our latest proprietary checks/data as regards same-store sales performance for this segment during October, November, and December.
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