Same-store sales and customer traffic

Restaurant operators reported mixed same-store sales results in December, which followed two consecutive months of net positive readings. 

Thirty-seven percent of restaurant operators said their same-store sales rose between December 2023 and December 2024, according to the National Restaurant Association’s monthly tracking survey. That was down from 59% of operators who reported higher sales in November. 

Forty-one percent of operators said their sales declined in December, up from 32% in November.

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 reported softer customer traffic in December relative to the previous two months. 

Twenty-seven percent of operators said their customer traffic rose between December 2023 and December 2024, down from more than four in 10 operators who reported higher traffic in both October and November. Forty-six percent of operators said their traffic declined in December.

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