Restaurant traffic growth tempering

Restaurant sales debunked the decline in overall retail sales in February, rising .1 percent vs. the prior month and 3.6 percent vs. 2018. Menu prices were 2.9 percent higher year-on-year while traffic was higher by just .7 percent. And although the 12-month sum of traffic growth is the largest since  spring 2016, the more recent trend has dampened. The three-month average gain in restaurant traffic is up just 1.45 percent from last year, marking the smallest increase since last April. No doubt delivery has played a part in the traffic expansion statistic during the last year but the recent data trend raises doubts that the growth is sustainable. From The Maloni Report and ArrowStream.