U.S. CENSUS BUREA DATA SHOWS RESTAURANT SALES CONTINUED TO TREND HIGHER IN DECEMBER 2023

Preliminary data released from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that eating and drinking places registered $94.5 billion in total sales in December 2023. Restaurant and food service sales are very important to the potato industry, so this is encouraging data. Consumers are more likely to enjoy a potato, or a potato product, when they go out to eat versus when they stay home to eat. This increase in sales for restaurant and food services reflects ten consecutive months of sales growth. On a seasonally adjusted basis this represents an increase of 8.3% over the last ten months which is well above the 2.4% increase in sales the non-restaurant retail sectors experienced during the same time frame. Restaurant sales determined by an inflation adjusted basis reflected a 4.2% increase over the last ten months as well.

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Additional analysis and commentary from the National Restaurant Association’s Chief Economist Bruce Grindy can be found here.