This may mean that nominal sales are sliding, but it also indicates another change: people are choosing smaller restaurants when they eat out. As we noted before, Bank of America credit card customer data also indicated that Americans are choosing smaller, local restaurants over the largest chain brands when they eat out. Right now the cost of food at home is declining, while food away from home is increasing. Industry insiders have cited this as a reason for the drop in sales. It may also indicate why more people would choose smaller, local restaurants.

Key Takeaways:

• Wednesday’s retail sales report was disappointing, missing economists’ expectations and raising concerns over the outlook for the holiday shopping season.
• The percentage of retail sales devoted to bars and restaurants compared with food and beverage stores was nearly the smallest gap in decades, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
• “At the current level of 0.87, this month’s spread is the fifth narrowest on record, and the only four smaller monthly readings also occurred in 2016.”

““With Bars and Restaurants accounting for 11.97% of total sales and Food and Beverage Stores accounting for 12.84%, the spread between the two is narrowing,” Bespoke wrote in a note following Wednesday’s report.”

http://www.restaurantnews.com/a-massive-shift-is-underway-in-the-restaurant-industry/