Same-store sales and customer traffic

Restaurant operators reported a net increase in same-store sales in April, though the mixed results continue to reflect uneven consumer spending. 

Forty-eight percent of restaurant operators said their same-store sales rose between April 2025 and April 2026, according to the National Restaurant Association’s monthly tracking survey. That was up slightly from 45% of operators who reported higher sales in March. 

Thirty-three percent of restaurant operators said their sales declined in April, down from 39% in March.

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.

In contrast to the positive sales results, customer traffic readings deteriorated slightly in April. 

Twenty-seven percent of operators said their customer traffic rose between April 2025 and April 2026, down from 31% in March. Forty-nine percent of restaurant operators reported lower traffic in April, compared to 46% in March. 

April represented the 14th time in the last 15 months that operators reported a net decline in customer traffic.

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