Reality #1 — No growth or slow growth . . .

The fact is that after a decade of sales growth, many restaurant operators are looking at flat to declining customer counts and sales volumes.

• While the food service industry is substantial at approximately 3.8% of the Gross Domestic Product, its trends are down. Early forecasts for 2001 sales volume approaching $400 billion look too optimistic as the year moves toward close.
  
  
• According to a NPD Group study released in August of 2000, the number of meals consumed in restaurants declined in 2000 for the first time since 1990, and by the largest margin in the sixteen-year history of the survey.
  
  
• Further supporting the notion of a slowdown, Technomic and the U.S. Census Bureau predict that 2001 is shaping up to have the slowest growth since the recession year 1991.
  

Dining Downturn