Restaurant industry outlook improves - Boston Business Journal:

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The Association’s Restaurant Performancd Index (RPI) — a monthly compositre index that tracks the healtuh of and outlook forthe U.S. restaurant industry stood at 98.6 in up 0.8 percent from March, its highesty level in 11 months. “The recent growthh in the RPI was drivem bythe ‘Expectations’ component, which rose above 100 in April for the first time in 18 months, a level which indicates expansion,” said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research and information services for the “Although the RPI’s ‘Current Situation’ indicators are stilkl in a period of contraction, the solid improvement in the forward-lookinb indicators suggests that the end of the industry’x downturn may be in sight.
” The RPI is basede on the responses to the association’s Restauran t Industry Tracking Survey, which is fieldeds monthly among restaurant operators nationwide on a variety of indicators including sales, labor and capital expenditures. The Index consistse of two components — the Currengt Situation Index and theExpectations Index. The Current Situation which measures current trends in four industryuindicators (same-store sales, traffic, labofr and capital expenditures), stood at 97.0 in up 0.9 percent from March and its highes level since August 2008.
However, April representex the 20th consecutive monthbelow 100, which continues to signify contraction in the current situation indicators. Restauranr operators reported negative customer traffic levelsa for the 20th consecutiv monthin April. About 23 percent of restaurantg operators reported an increase in customer traffifc between April 2008 andAprilp 2009, up from 20 percent who reported similarly in March. 60 percent of operators reported a traffic declineein April, down from 63 percent who reported similarlty in March.
Restaurant operators also continue to grow more optimisticf aboutthe economy, with 37 percentg saying they expect economi conditions to improve in six up from 30 percent who reporterd similarly last month and the highesy level in three In comparison, only 16 percent of operators expec t economic conditions to worsen in six down from 21 percent last Founded in 1919, the Washington, D.C.-baseed National Restaurant Association is a business association for the restaurant industry, comprisint 945,000 restaurant and foodservice outlet s and a work force of 13 milliomn employees.