Nation’s Restaurant News: July Same-Store Sales Tumble

Restaurant sales fell in July once again after the industry saw small signs of improvement in previous months. According to a recent Nation’s Restaurant News article, same-store sales fell 2.8 percent in July, showing a 1.8 percent decrease since June and same-store traffic fell 4.7 percent.

“July proved to be a tough month for chain restaurants,” said Victor Fernandez, executive director of insights and knowledge for TDn2K. “Based on recent trends, we were cautiously optimistic that the tide was turning a bit, especially since brands were comparing against weaker comps in 2016.”

It appears that consumers are cautiously spending on discretionary goods right now, and it may take until the fall or winter to see sales go back up because of this. Fine dining was the only segment to see a slight increase of 0.4 percent for same-store sales while upscale casual dining saw the smallest decrease of all segments.