Restaurant sales expectations shift toward flat

Flat sales expectations nearly matched growth expectations in the National Restaurant Association’s September report, updated October 30.

Looking six months ahead against the corresponding prior-year period, 41% of surveyed operators expected higher sales, 40% little change and 19% lower sales.

The August report put higher, unchanged and lower expectations at 44%, 32% and 24%.

Decline expectations fell 5 percentage points; growth expectations fell 3. Subtracting lower from higher gives 22 points, up from 20. Unchanged expectations gained 8 points.

These percentages describe respondents, not projected sales growth.

The outlook charts use later month labels than the reports’ titles. This comparison uses report editions, without assuming identical respondents.