The Wall Street Journal: Consumer Spending is a Bright Spot in Disappointing Second Quarter

In the second quarter of 2016, the U.S. GDP grew 1.2% according to the Commerce Department. This was a disappointing level of growth - the weakest start to a year since 2011.

“Consumer spending growth was the sole element of good news,” Gregory Daco, an economist at Oxford Economics, told the Wall Street Journal in a recent article on the GDP report. “Weakness in business investment is an important and lingering growth constraint.”

That consumer spending has led to higher sales at Saladworks. The growing franchise brand out of Pennsylvania has seen sales increase by 10% over the last year. Still, the presidential election in November is causing some pause across the entire country when it comes to larger level investments.

“The election cycle puts everyone on hold,” Patrick Sugrue, CEO of Saladworks, told the Wall Street Journal. “They’re excited to open new stores, but they want to get a better peek under the tent at what’s going on.”

The impact of the Brexit decision in the UK will remain to be seen until the GDP report on quarter three.