Regardless of a deterioration in sentiment and a few cracks starting to type within the family stability sheet, shoppers stay steadfast of their want to spend at eating places.
Consuming and consuming locations* registered whole gross sales of $99.1 billion on a seasonally adjusted foundation in April, in line with preliminary information from the U.S. Census Bureau. That was up 1.2% from the gross sales quantity of $97.9 billion in March.
April’s robust gross sales efficiency got here on the heels of a sturdy 3.0% improve in March – the strongest month-to-month improve in additional than two years. The final 2 months represented a stable enchancment from a 4-month interval during which gross sales remained comparatively flat.
[Note: The April sales report included the Census Bureau’s annual revisions to the data. While the month-to-month trend in eating and drinking place sales remained generally consistent, the total monthly sales volume was revised lower.]
Trying past the stable positive factors of the final 2 months, restaurant gross sales development has largely been pushed by menu value positive factors. Consequently, actual restaurant gross sales remained comparatively flat in the course of the previous 2+ years.
Nevertheless, the current uptick in gross sales broke out from that pattern, based mostly on the preliminary information. Consequently, consuming and consuming place gross sales have been up 3.8% between April 2024 and April 2025, on an inflation-adjusted foundation. That represented the strongest actual gross sales improve since December 2023 (+5.8%).
*Consuming and consuming locations are the first element of the U.S. restaurant and foodservice business and symbolize roughly 72% of whole restaurant and foodservice gross sales.
