Same-store sales and customer traffic

Same-store sales and customer traffic

Restaurant operators reported lower same-store sales and customer traffic in August

Restaurant operators reported a net decline in same-store sales in August, though the results were an improvement from July’s dampened readings. 

Forty percent of restaurant operators said their same-store sales rose between August 2023 and August 2024, according to the National Restaurant Association’s monthly tracking survey. That was up from just 20% who reported higher sales in July. 

Fifty-one percent of operators said their sales declined in August, down from 63% in July. August represented the 8th consecutive month in which restaurant operators report a net decline in same-store sales.

Restaurant operators: Want to know how your business compares to similar restaurants on a monthly basis? Find out by taking a few minutes to participate in the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey. All survey respondents receive exclusive access to the detailed survey results each month, broken out by industry segment and type of ownership.

Restaurant operators also continued to report dampened customer traffic in August. Twenty-six percent of operators said their customer traffic rose between August 2023 and August 2024, while 58% reported a traffic decline. 

That represented the 17th consecutive month of net declines in customer traffic. 

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