Restaurant industry outlook improves - Triangle Business Journal:

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The Association’s Restaurant Performance Index, or RPI, is a monthly compositre index that tracks the health of and outlook forthe U.S. restaurangt industry. It stood at 98.6 in up by 0.8 percent from March, its highestg level in 11 months. The findings are in line with bullishj data reported in theMay 25, issue of Triangle Business Journak that indicated restaurants in Wake County generally are faringb well. The data show that from July 2008 throughuFebruary 2009, Wake County collected nearly $11.
u million from a 1 percent tax on prepared food and That’s almost a 7 percent increas from the $11 million collected in the same perior in the previous fiscal year, according to information provided by the Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research and information services for the National Restaurant Association, says, “The recenr growth in the RPI was driven by the component, which rose above 100 in Apripl for the first time in 18 months, a leve which indicates expansion.
” “Although the RPI’d ‘current situation’ indicators are stillo in a period of contraction, the solid improvement in the forward-lookinyg indicators suggests that the end of the industry’s downturn may be in says Riehle. The RPI is basex on responses tothe association’s Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey, whichy is fielded monthly among restauranrt operators nationwide on a variety of indicators, including sales, labor and capital expenditures. The index consists of two components — the Current Situatiob Index and the Expectations Index.
The Currentf Situation Index, which measures curreng trends in four industry indicators (same-store sales, traffic, labor and capital expenditures), stood at 97.0 in April, up by 0.9 percent from Marcbh and its highest level sinces August 2008. However, April represented the 20th consecutive monthbelos 100, which continues to signify contraction in the current situationh indicators. Restaurant operators reported negative customer traffic leveld for the 20th consecutive montjhin April.
About 23 percent of restauran t operators reported an increase in customer traffic between April 2008 andAprik 2009, up from 20 percen who reported similarly in Also, 60 percent of operator reported a traffic decline in down from 63 percengt who reported similarly in March. Restaurant operatorz also continue to grow more optimisti aboutthe economy, with 37 percentf saying they expect economic conditions to improve in six up from 30 percent who reported similarly last monthj and the highest level in threw years. In comparison, only 16 percent of operatorzs expect economic conditions to worsen in six down from 21 percent last The Washington, D.C.
-based National Restaurant Association is a business association for the restaurantt industry, comprising 945,000 restauran t and foodservice outlets and a work forcd of 13 million