Jonathan Maze’s Nation’s Restaurant News takes a look at the sales figures for the nation’s restaurants in the month of March. Although they have risen a little bit since the last month, they’re still weakest it’s been for the past three years. Besides delving into the fact, Maze also takes a look at some of the causes behind the current decline (including lower grocery store prices) and what might occur to sales in the immediate future.

Key Takeaways:

• The growth in restaurant sales over the past several months is the slowest it’s been since 2013.
• General retail sales, however, are up (meaning that the slow growth for restaurants isn’t the result of general economic distress, but rather consumers spending money on other things).
• Grocery store sales are increasing as their prices decrease, possibly taking sales away from restaurants.

“Restaurant sales rose 2.8 percent in March, according to federal data, slowing for the second straight month”

Read more: http://www.nrn.com/sales-trends/restaurant-sales-slow-again-march