Overall state tax revenues grew 2.7% in third quarter 2012 vs. the third quarter the year before, the 11th consecutive quarter of increases since the depths of the Great Recession, according to data from the Rockefeller Institute of Government, Albany, N.Y. Still, the rate of increase has declined for five consecutive quarters since peaking in…

Steep declines in the indicators for current same-store sales and traffic pushed the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index lower in December. But the two markers that track operator capital spending posted strong gains and all the other indicators rose or were flat. Still, the overall index stood at 99.7, the third month the index…

The net numbers of both chain and independent restaurant units in the U.S. were up 0.7%, an increase of 4.442 restaurants, in the year ended September 2012, according to the latest data from NPD Group’s twice-a-year ReCount Census. The Port Washington, N.Y.-based research firm also reported that overall restaurant traffic for the year ended November…

It really just comes down to money. A new report from The NPD Group details how older Americans, those 55 and older, have increased their visits to restaurants of all kinds since 2008, while younger Americans have rather dramatically cut back. What NPD calls “older boomers,” those 55 to 64, now have the highest per…

Only China and Canada recorded significant increases in restaurant visits in the third quarter of last year, according to data from the NPD Group. Six of the 10 markets in which NPD charts foodservice activity—Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain—recorded declines. Traffic was flat in the United Kingdom and U.S. Continuing economic struggles and…

Employment grew by 157,000 jobs in January, pretty much in line with economists’ expectations, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, Feb. 1. Also on Friday, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers final reading on Consumer Sentiment came in a bit ahead of expectations, rising to 73.8, as consumers absorbed the impact of…

We (and lots of other observers) were wrong. Most of us expected consumers would gain back a bit of their confidence from the AmericanTaxpayer Relief Act passed just after the New Year. But no. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index fell again in the January preliminary reading released last Friday, Jan. 18. The…

It being a new year, we thought we’d share the current macroeconomic forecasts from Blue Chip Economic Indicators. The 50 major economic forecasting groups polled monthly by Blue Chip raised their consensus forecast for real growth of gross domestic product in the U.S. this year by a tick to 2% in the early January survey.…

The price-increase news for foodservice operators in December was actually pretty good. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported wholesale food prices at all three levels of the wholesale chain fell during the month. Finished foods were down 0.9% compared to November, intermediate foods and feeds also fell 0.9% and crude foodstuffs and feedstuffs prices dropped…