QSR: Restaurant Sales Cool Off Significantly in January

The restaurant industry lost a bit of steam in January, but experts believe it isn’t something owners should worry about. According to a recent QSR Magazine article, same-store sales declined 0.3 percent across the industry and broke a three-month streak of flat or positive growth in sales.

“Although January’s sales results are somewhat disappointing, we remain cautiously optimistic about the industry’s performance,” said Victor Fernandez, executive director of insights and knowledge for TDn2K. “Even if the month posted some small negative growth in sales, January’s results were better than for any other month in the February through September period last year.”

Severe winter storms were a big factor that affected restaurant sales across the East Coast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, but a positive trend shows the average guest check grew by three percent. According to restaurant owners, the top concerns remain to be employee staffing and traffic to their locations.