“Spring looks likely to bring some much-needed sunshine to the gloomy restaurant industry.
As consumer sentiment rises, restaurants are expected to benefit. The number of people dining out is expected to remain flat. But analysts expect sales to inch up as restaurants raise menu prices, consumers who had turned down appetizers and desserts start spending more and people trade up to more-expensive restaurants. A major unknown is how much gasoline prices will rise, cutting into consumers’ budgets.”
In most areas of the U.S., roughly $4.00 per gallon ($5+ in some places) and rising.
The article talks about restaurant closures helping with supply and demand. To us, that sounds like more pressure than ever on the independant restaurateur to innovate and be different. Tabletop is an easy place to do that differentiation.
One saving grace for the restaurant trade might be is that when people go to their grocery store, the prices there are out of sight also due to transport costs (good chance everything in the grocery store arrived on a truck)…..making restaurants seem to be relative bargains.
We shall see what kind of flowers our Spring season shall bring.
You can read the entire Wall Street Journal article by going here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304177104577314272014146542.html
