There are rumors abound that the restaurant industry is headed towards a recession. However, Jonathan Maze does not necessarily believe that. From his interactions with those in the restaurant business and comparing the growth of restaurant businesses now and when the U.S. economy was in a recession, Maze believes that there are changes in the restaurant business, but not a blatant decline.

Key Takeaways:

• It’s entirely possible the restaurant industry is at the start of a sales decline amid renewed economic weakness but there are reasons I still believe it is too early to say this.
• The issue is rooted in a shift in industry sales toward different players, or toward grocers, or toward some combination of all of it.
• The restaurant industry has been expanding which could be watering down the supply of restaurants, spreading sales toward a larger number of locations.

“Restaurants are growing. They’ve been adding workers at a rate far greater than the overall economy for the past two years. In July, for instance, restaurant franchisees added 16,900 jobs.”

http://nrn.com/blog/why-it-s-too-early-say-there-s-restaurant-recession