---
title: "Nation’s Restaurant News: Restaurant Sales Drop in May"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/35fd5bb2-0789-40b0-8956-5fdf7a0b5f03
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-restaurant-sales-drop-in-may-5142
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
published: 2016-07-06T14:09:03.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T12:24:32.653Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/e149760f8893addfd1addbeb9d9cfde02993160706093403.jpg
---

# Nation’s Restaurant News: Restaurant Sales Drop in May

**TL;DR:** Restaurant sales dropped in May, according to the National Restaurant Association's Restaurant Performance Index, which fell 0.9 percent to 100.6. The index is comprised of two parts: one that measures the current situation, and another that measures operators’ expectations.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2016-07-06. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-restaurant-sales-drop-in-may-5142).*

## Story

Restaurant sales softened in May, along with operator expectations, as the industry continued its choppy 2016, according to the latest Restaurant Performance Index from the National Restaurant Association.

The monthly indication of the health of the industry fell 0.9 percent to 100.6 in May, from 101.6 in April. The NRA considers the industry to be in expansion mode if the index is above 100.

“The RPI continued along a choppy trend line in May, with the index bouncing between moderate gains and losses in recent months,” Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research for the NRA, said in a statement.

“Much of the May dip came from declines in the same-store sales and customer traffic indicators, which softened from their stronger April performance.”

The index is comprised of two parts: one that measures the current situation, and another that measures operators’ expectations. The index is calculated using responses to the association’s monthly operator survey.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- restaurant sales (topic)
- National Restaurant Association (company)
- industry performance (topic)
- restaurant performance index (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-restaurant-sales-drop-in-may-5142). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/35fd5bb2-0789-40b0-8956-5fdf7a0b5f03).