Thursday November 20, 2025, 07:00:00
By Mark Kalinowski
On its 11/5/25 conference call, McDonald’s mentioned that beverages are “a global category of more than $100 billion that’s growing much faster than the broader IEO [informal eating out] industry. In the U.S., we launched a beverage test in more than 500 restaurants across Colorado and Wisconsin at the beginning of September. The product mix includes cold coffees, fruity refreshers, crafted sodas and energy-based drinks. Initial results are exceeding expectations, with strong satisfaction scores across the board. And the new beverage offerings are driving incremental occasions across different dayparts as well as higher average check. We’re excited to see progress continue with the test as we deepen our understanding, drive innovation and evaluate how these offerings could enhance our long-term beverage strategy in the U.S. and abroad.” (bold ours)
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Friday October 24, 2025, 08:58:50
By Mark Kalinowski
The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data shows that prices for food-at-home (grocery stores and supermarkets) rose by +2.7% in September — sequentially the same as higher than August’s +2.7%. This +2.7% number for September compares with price for food-away-from-home (restaurants) that increased by +3.7% year-over-year in September (sequentially -20 basis points below August’s +3.9%) This marks the 30th month in a row for which restaurant pricing is outpacing grocery/supermarket pricing. Yet, the +2.7% figure for food-at-home inflation is tied for the highest of any month since August 2023’s +3.0% number.
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Thursday October 9, 2025, 07:00:00
By Mark Kalinowski
With this report, we update our data-driven Kalinowski Restaurant Industry Index for Q3 2025 to +1.6%. While this isn’t a great quarter by any stretch of the imagination, it is nevertheless the best quarter since Q4 2023’s +3.6% result. Has the industry — slowly — finally turned the corner?
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