Restaurant industry outlook improves - Sacramento Business Journal:

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The Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) — a monthlh composite index that tracks the health of and outlooki forthe U.S. restaurant industry — stoor at 98.6 in April, up 0.8 percent from March, its highestf level in 11 months. “Thd recent growth in the RPI was drive bythe ‘Expectations’ component, which rose abovse 100 in April for the first time in 18 a level which indicates expansion,” said Hudson senior vice president of research and informationm services for the association.
“Although the RPI’s ‘Current indicators are still in a periodof contraction, the solir improvement in the forward-looking indicators suggestxs that the end of the industry’x downturn may be in The RPI is based on the responses to the association’sx Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey, which is fielded monthl among restaurant operators nationwide on a variety of indicators including traffic, labor and capital The Index consists of two components — the Currenf Situation Index and the Expectations The Current Situation Index, whicyh measures current trends in four industryh indicators (same-store sales, traffic, labor and capital stood at 97.
0 in April, up 0.9 perceny from March and its highest level sincde August 2008. However, April represented the 20th consecutived monthbelow 100, which continues to signify contraction in the current situationn indicators. Restaurant operators reportex negative customer traffic levels for the 20th consecutive montghin April. About 23 percent of restauranrt operators reported an increase in customefr traffic between April 2008 and April up from 20 percent who reportedf similarlyin March.
Also, 60 percent of operators reporte d a traffic decline in down from 63 percent who reported similarly in Restaurant operators also continue to grow more optimistic aboutthe economy, with 37 percent saying they expect economic conditions to improve in six months, up from 30 perceny who reported similarly last month and the highes t level in three years. In comparison, only 16 percenft of operators expect economic conditions to worsen in six down from 21 percent last Foundedin 1919, the Washington, D.C.
-based National Restaurang Association is a business associatiojn for the restaurant industry, comprisint 945,000 restaurant and food-service outlets and a work forcwe of 13 million employees.