Monday July 15, 2024, 07:00:00
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
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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Wednesday July 10, 2024, 05:00:00
By Mark Kalinowski
With this report, we update our data-driven Kalinowski Casual Dining Index for Q2 to +1.9%. On a five-year (pre-pandemic) basis, the Kalinowski Casual Dining Index for Q2 is at +23.8%. These numbers are based on our latest proprietary checks/data as regards same-store sales performance for this segment during April, May, and June.
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