Finance

Financial Insights -- Restaurant Industry
Monthly Report: January 2006
By Raymond Zale

Restaurants have become America’s dining room. 2006 should shine brightly on the full-service casual restaurant segment. Along with an unexpectedly strong economy and customers desire for fun, convenience and table service, large numbers of adults (inclusive of baby boomers) continue to report they enjoy eating out in concepts with a per-person check (ppa) averaging $10 and $20. This trend is underscored by a recent release of current census data (2002) that showed places serving meals costing $10-$20 now make up 45% of all dining dollars. This is up from 33.2% in the last census (1997). Those establishments that serve meals costing less than $10 per person (which includes family restaurants v. casual) have fallen from 49.6% to 36.8%.

What other trends are we forecasting?  Review our 15-page report, including graphs that allow you to draw your own conclusions.

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