Restaurant sales

PHNOM PENH, August 24 (Phnom Penh Post / ANN): The prolonged spread of Covid-19 continues to dismantle the Cambodian restaurant industry.

New research from the Cambodia Restaurant Association (CRA) shows sales have been decimated by the pandemic, falling 50% last year from 2019 and now 60% below 2020 levels.

This represents a cumulative decrease of 80% from 2019-2021.

Speaking at the “First Restaurant Taxation Webinar” on August 23, ARC President Arnaud Darc cited a long list of issues hampering the industry, as reported by restaurant owners during of the past 16 months.

Some of them are the sharp lack of consumer demand brought on by Covid-19, the imposition of rules that have forced restaurant establishments to change the way they do business, and a trend towards working from home that has practically eliminated lunch time. crowd for traditional restaurants and quick service restaurants (QSR).

The CRA estimates that the share of consumers dining at sit-down restaurants has fallen by 85% since the start of the pandemic, he said. “We note that traffic is not just a movement[ing] take out – we estimate that only 16% ordered more to replace meals in traditional restaurants.

Darc said the reverberation effects felt on the Kingdom’s restaurant scene have been devastating for owners and workers. The industry has essentially shut down, pressuring companies to turn around and figure out how to add curbside collection and delivery to operations, turn their kitchens into “ghost kitchens” and make kits. of meals, he said.

“We can’t change the crisis, the closures or the course it’s going to take, but they can and have changed their operations and will likely continue to do so long after this pandemic is over.

“While the restaurant industry has been affected by the pandemic, note that the actual impacts may be difficult to measure as the effects have been far from evenly distributed,” said Darc.

On the flip side, he said, street food carts, fast food outlets and over-the-counter food services are some of the businesses that are better at coping with current circumstances, mainly because of the need. reduced staff, as well as the affordability of their products and how easy they are to package.

“Since the start of the pandemic, half of SMEs [small- and medium-sized enterprises] in our industry are gone and we still expect to see more closures in the near future, ”he said.

Chairing the webinar, Eng Ratana, director of the Department of Large Taxpayers of the General Tax Directorate of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, noted that economic activity has suffered a slowdown due to Covid and that the restaurant industry was no exception.

To address the setbacks of the crisis and help business leaders in these difficult times, the government has adopted a number of response measures, he said.

“The economic situation has deteriorated considerably and has seriously affected the collection of tax revenues. However, we appreciate the private sector for nonetheless complying with the law and paying responsibly and on time. “

Anthony Galliano, CEO of Cambodian Investment Management Holding Co Ltd (CIM Holding), said the hospitality sector is shrinking rapidly, despite government backing, and stressed that there must be a stimulus package that includes tax incentives to stimulate investment that promotes longevity and sustainability.

The “silver bullet” could be to refine the status of small taxpayer, which offers substantial tax advantages and benefits, he said, noting that although this is not stated in the law, it is practically impossible for foreigners to register as small taxpayers.

Since small taxpayers charge 10 percent value added tax (VAT) but only pay more than two percent, do not pay withholding tax except on rent and wages, have a tax form simple, have lower profit tax levels, lower patent tax and are not subject to audits, this might be the most appropriate model to jumpstart the industry, he suggested.

“The government should consider allowing foreigners in practice in this category, extending the threshold to $ 500,000 of income and allowing limited liability companies as a means of resuscitating the industry, encouraging investment and to promote sustainability in an industry that has a 60 percent failure rate. hundred at best, ”said Galliano. – Phnom Penh / ANN post

The prolonged spread of Covid-19 continues to dismantle the Cambodian restaurant industry. New research from the Cambodia Restaurant Association (CRA) shows sales have been decimated by the pandemic, falling 50% last year from 2019 and now 60% below 2020 levels.

This represents a cumulative decrease of 80% from 2019-2021.

Speaking at the “First Restaurant Taxation Webinar” on August 23, ARC President Arnaud Darc cited a long list of issues hampering the industry, as reported by restaurant owners during of the last 16 months.

Some of them are the sharp lack of consumer demand brought on by Covid-19, the imposition of rules that have forced catering establishments to change the way they do business, and a trend towards working from home that has practically eliminated lunch time. crowd for traditional restaurants and quick service restaurants (QSR).

The CRA estimates that the share of consumers dining at sit-down restaurants has fallen by 85% since the start of the pandemic, he said. “We note that traffic is not just a movement[ing] take out – we estimate that only 16% ordered more to replace meals in traditional restaurants.

Darc said the reverberation effects felt on the Kingdom’s restaurant scene have been devastating for owners and workers. The industry has essentially shut down, pressuring companies to turn around and figure out how to add curbside collection and delivery to operations, turn their kitchens into “ghost kitchens” and make kits. of meals, he said.

“We can’t change the crisis, the closures or the course it’s going to take, but they can and have changed their operations and will likely continue to do so long after this pandemic is over.

“While the restaurant industry has been affected by the pandemic, note that the actual impacts may be difficult to measure as the effects have been far from evenly distributed,” said Darc.

On the flip side, he said, street food carts, fast food outlets and over-the-counter food services are some of the businesses that are better at coping with current circumstances, mainly because of the need. reduced staff, as well as the affordability of their products and how easy they are to package.

“Since the start of the pandemic, half of SMEs [small- and medium-sized enterprises] in our industry are gone and we still expect to see more closures in the near future, ”he said.

Chairing the webinar, Eng Ratana, director of the Large Taxpayers Department of the General Tax Directorate of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, noted that economic activity has suffered a slowdown due to Covid and that the restaurant industry was no exception.

To address the setbacks of the crisis and help business leaders in these difficult times, the government has adopted a number of response measures, he said.

“The economic situation has deteriorated considerably and has seriously affected the collection of tax revenues. However, we appreciate the private sector for nonetheless complying with the law and paying responsibly and on time. ”

Anthony Galliano, CEO of Cambodian Investment Management Holding Co Ltd (CIM Holding), said the hospitality sector is shrinking rapidly, despite government backing, and stressed that there must be a stimulus package that includes tax incentives to stimulate investment that promotes longevity and sustainability.

The “silver bullet” could be to refine the status of small taxpayer, which offers substantial tax advantages and benefits, he said, noting that although this is not stated in the law, it is virtually impossible for foreigners to register as small taxpayers.

Since small taxpayers charge 10 percent value added tax (VAT) but only pay more than two percent, do not pay withholding tax except on rent and wages, have a tax form simple, have lower profit tax levels, lower patent tax and are not subject to audits, this might be the most appropriate model to jumpstart the industry, he suggested.

“The government should consider allowing foreigners in practice in this category, extending the threshold to $ 500,000 of income and allowing limited liability companies as a means of resuscitating the industry, encouraging investment and to promote sustainability in an industry that has a 60 percent failure rate at the best of times, ”said Galliano.

O’ahu’s sales are flat on average, but gains continue elsewhere, according to the Food Gurus Index.

Hawai’i restaurants continue to benefit from a month-over-month increase in sales, with restaurants in Maui, Hawai’i Island and resort areas leading, according to the Food Gurus Hawaii Restaurant Index.

Average daily sales were up 7% statewide in June from May. But average sales rose 14% at restaurants in Maui, 10% on the island of Hawai’i, and 11% at restaurants in Waikīkī and other resort areas.

O’ahu restaurants outside the resort areas were the exception: daily sales were flat and the number of transactions in June was actually down 1%. This comes after five months of growth in most categories each month, according to the Food Gurus Index, which tracks more than 3 million transactions per month at more than 130 restaurants statewide.

Food Gurus Hawaii provides index details each month to Hawaii Business Magazine.

Doug Harris, founder of Food Gurus Hawaii, says months of price increases paid by restaurants to their suppliers are now reaching customers. “Supply chain inflation is starting to show up in menu prices as ticket averages are up 4% statewide” – the biggest month-over-month increase in price average of banknotes since the launch of the index in January 2021.

Dining outlets saw the biggest increase in menu prices, up 5% on average, according to Harris, while quick-service restaurants increased prices by an average of 1%.

Harris points out other trends:

• Shortages of restaurant staples, such as cups, were widespread in May and worsened in June.
• The number of customers at casual and fine dining restaurants fell 1% in June after months of steady increases. Harris thinks that could mean these restaurants are operating at or near capacity.
• Compared to January to June, daily sales statewide are up 62%, with nearly nine-tenths of that growth coming from additional transactions; only about a tenth came from increased spend per customer.

Here are the full index results:

Note: Many restaurants have stopped deliveries to focus on in-person customers. The index no longer tracks deliveries because month-to-month comparisons no longer make sense.

The restaurant industry continued to regain its financial footing in June, but aftershocks from the pandemic have not yet subsided.

“The industry right now is extremely strong and booming. For many operators, they have more business than they can handle, ”said Joseph Pawlak, CEO of Technomic. The Food Institute. “But on the negative side, commodity prices are skyrocketing due to shortages and the shortage of labor is a major problem that is restricting the capacity of the industry.”

Dinner at the restaurant is back

Restaurant sales reached $ 70.6 billion in June, beating May figures by 2.3% and hitting an all-time high for the fourth consecutive month, according to data from the US Census Bureau.

Customer traffic was also almost in line with pre-pandemic figures. Traffic at casual restaurants fell below 3.8% of 2019 levels in June, according to a study by Placer.ai, reported Catering company (July 16).

This week, Yum Brands Inc. and McDonald’s Corp. reported second quarter profits that were better than Wall Street estimates. According to Market surveillanceMcDonald’s net profit totaled $ 2.219 billion, up from $ 483.8 million in 2020, while YUM’s net profit reached $ 391 million, marking a year-over-year increase of $ 185 million. the other (July 29).

Additionally, the increased spending for lunch at the Chipotle Mexican Grill suggests a return to pre-pandemic meal routines for the day. The fast-casual chain reported a 70% recovery in in-store sales last week as well as an 80% retention of digital sales, MarketWatch Noted.

Persistent inflation ahead

While promising, a significant portion of the recent dollar gain in industry sales is due to higher prices. Year on year, inflation rose 5.4% in June.

Numerator data indicates that bars and restaurants are the most popular target for discretionary spending cuts, regardless of purchasing power. If inflation continues, 74% of consumers plan to cut spending accordingly, reported The packer (July 20).

A recent survey by the National Association for Business Economics suggests that persistent supply chain and labor market constraints will cause inflationary pressures to persist for the foreseeable future, reported Bloomberg (July 26).

Pawlak notes that the persistent “debacles” of port congestion and an amplified shortage of truck drivers are critical supply chain issues that could extend this timeframe.

See also

“Even though an actual food product and its ingredients are plentiful, finding the materials and packaging for those products is a major problem,” Pawlak said. “So higher inflation is probably there for a while. “

Navigate workforce issues

In addition to perpetual staff shortages, many restaurant workers across the country have become the target of verbal abuse and legal threats from frustrated customers, reportedThe Washington Post (July 15th). In addition, “breakthrough” infections of the Delta variant in recent weeks are prompting some restaurants to rethink their plans to reopen or require proof of vaccination.

The pandemic has also fueled a growing awareness of the pay gap between workers in the restaurant business and those in other industries. Foodservice workers are more than twice as likely to be in poverty as general workers, and the vast majority work without the right to family or medical leave, according to the 2020 State of Restaurant Workers report. .

In addition to prioritizing wage competitiveness, Pawlak believes there are other strategies operators can initiate to not only recruit talent, but also retain the staff they have.

“One [tactic] shows them a real career path within the industry or their companies, and how quickly someone can go from production worker to general manager, ”said Pawlak. Other incentives include flexible working hours, health benefits and, overall, “giving each of them a voice on how to do their jobs most efficiently”.

McAlister’s Deli, On the Border Mexican Grill and Cantina and Modern Market roll out new solution for restaurants to engage local community groups

(RestaurantNews.com) Think restaurant fundraising is a thing of the past? Think again: fundraising for restaurants has gone digital and the results are staggering.

As dining restrictions continue to evolve, restaurants can now accommodate digital fundraisers that promote their digital + other ordering methods. This is all made possible by the latest feature of GroupRaise – the leading fundraising platform for restaurants nationwide.

Over 5,000 restaurants, including brands such as MOD Pizza, On the Border, Wendy’s and McAlister’s Deli, have found great value in hosting digital events for fundraising groups like:

• Digital fundraising events increased average sales in 2021 by 27%
• Month after month, the demand for digital fundraisers has increased 200% via the GroupRaise platform

On the Border Mexican Grill and Cantina maintained event sales in 2020 by offering takeout and dinner fundraising events. As of 2021, they have average sales 12% higher than their peak in 2019. Tara Barnett, senior director of offsite and local marketing, said:

“Before GroupRaise, every CEO simply managed our fundraisers through phone call logs. We had to produce emails and produce other materials to support these events individually. GroupRaise really helped manage this and automate email communication. It took a lot of work from us at the company level, but also at the restaurant level.

The Saxton group, which operates more than 80 McAlister’s Deli branches, restarted its fundraising program amid the pandemic in September 2020. Lily Saer, Marketing Manager, comments on the matter:

“Ultimately, we had to implement a new fundraising structure that included CNC, and that was the biggest help and the best option for us. Many organizations were so grateful as they were looking for support during the pandemic that we were unable to get them. And now that we can, and we come up with a new way of doing it through these online ordering systems – and it has been so fantastic.“

The modern West Coast based market where widespread door-to-door orders were in place, held fundraising events only through online orders. Teresa, their director of operations services, says:

“GroupRaise has helped our brand organize online events by providing our operators with an easy to manage dashboard. The dashboard facilitates the entire process from start to finish, from inquiries and planning to reporting. The communication feature allows us to easily chat with event planners to help enforce our policies and check attendance in advance, fostering relationships with our communities. “

Local restaurants and national brands join GroupRaise for increased brand awareness, additional sales, new customer acquisition, promotional tools and automated operational support.

Want to learn more about how you can increase your restaurant’s results while elevating your brand in the community? Contact [email protected] for more information.

About GroupRaise

GroupRaise is the leading fundraising platform for restaurants nationwide, connecting local individuals and groups who want to fundraise with restaurants in their area that are excited to host. GroupRaise works with over 10,000 restaurants across the United States and has helped over 75,000 local organizations raise funds for their causes. To learn more, visit www.groupraise.com.

HOUSTON, July 8, 2021 / PRNewswire / – RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: RICK) today announced sales of its Nightclubs and Bombshells restaurants for the third quarter of fiscal 2021 ended June 30, 2021. The results reflect a continued rebound in the COVID-19 pandemic.

3Q21 vs 3Q20

• Total sales of clubs and restaurants: $ 56.7 million compared to $ 14.3 million (+ 296.0%)
• Total sales of nightclubs: $ 40.6 million compared to $ 5.8 million (+ 602.1%)
• Total Bomb Sales: $ 16.1 million compared to $ 8.5 million (+ 88.4%)
• Comparable store sales comparison for the quarter is not available as no stores were open enough days in 3Q20 to qualify

3Q21 vs 3Q19

* For illustrative purposes, the following compares 3Q21 to 3Q19 data to better understand sales trends over the past two years, given the significant impact of the pandemic on 3Q20.

• Total sales of clubs and restaurants: $ 56.7 million compared to $ 46.2 million (+ 22.6%)
• Total sales of comparable clubs and restaurants *: $ 53.0 million compared to $ 45.2 million (+ 17.2%)
• Total sales of nightclubs: $ 40.6 million compared to $ 37.5 million (+ 8.4%) on 36 dwellings vs. 38
• Same-store sales at nightclubs *: $ 40.6 million compared to $ 36.5 million (+ 11.3%)
• Total Bomb Sales: $ 16.1 million compared to $ 8.8 million (+ 83.6%) on 10 units vs 8
• Bombshells same-store sales *: $ 12.4 million compared to $ 8.8 million (+ 41.6%)

CEO Commentary

Eric Langan, President and CEO, said: “We are very pleased to set a new record for total quarterly club and restaurant sales of $ 56.7 million during the June quarter, reflecting new quarterly sales records for our Nightclubs segment with $ 40.6 million and our Bombshells segment with $ 16.1 million.

“In May, RCI recorded the highest monthly club and restaurant sales in company history, followed by June, then March. Total same-store club and restaurant sales for 3Q21 by compared to 3Q19 increased by 17.2% .Trends given the significant impact of the pandemic on 3Q20.

“We believe the continued sequential quarterly improvement in total club and restaurant sales reflects the elimination of all restrictive curfews and occupancy restrictions at our northern clubs by the beginning of June and the continued return from our loyal clientele, who generally benefit from increased vaccinations.

“About 43% of the sequential quarterly club improvement came from our northern sites, about 30% from our clubs in Texas, and about 27% of our sites in Florida and other areas. All Bombshells locations generated sequential double-digit percent quarterly sales increases.

“We greatly appreciate the loyalty of our customers. A special thank you to our team members for making everything possible. We urge all customers to get vaccinated so that we can remain open to serve you and keep our team members in touch. work.”

RCI plans to release 3Q21 financial results by August 9.

Remarks

• Sales do not include non-core transactions and are preliminary and subject to final closing.
• Unit counts are at the end of the period.
• All references to “RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc.”, “company”, “we”, “our” and similar terms refer to RCI and / or its subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise indicates.

About RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: RICK)

With over 40 units, RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is the nation’s leading company in gentlemen’s clubs and sports bars / restaurants. Clubs in New York City, Chicago, Dallas / Ft. Value, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis, Saint Louis, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, and other markets operate under brands such as Rick’s Cabaret, XTC, Club Onyx, Vivid Cabaret, Jaguars Club, Tootsie’s Cabaret and Scarlett’s Cabaret. Sports bars / restaurants operate under the Bombshells Restaurant & Bar brand. Please visit http://www.rcihospitality.com/

Forward-looking statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results of the company to differ materially from those shown in this press release, including, but not limited to y limit the risks and uncertainties associated with (i) the operation and management of an adult business, (ii) the business climate in the cities where it operates, (iii) the success or lack of success in the launch and development of the company’s activities, (iv) cybersecurity, (v) conditions relating to real estate transactions, (vi) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and (vii) numerous other factors such as laws governing the operation of adult entertainment businesses, competition, and reliance on key personnel. For a more detailed discussion of these factors and certain risks and uncertainties, see RCI’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended. September 30, 2020, as well as its other documents filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The company has no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of future events or circumstances.

Media and investor contacts

Gary Fishman and Steven anreder at 212-532-3232 or [email protected] and [email protected]

View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rci-sets-new-record-for-total-quarterly-club-and-restaurant-sales-of-56-7m -in -3q21–301327927.html

SOURCE RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc.

The pandemic has hit the restaurant industry hard in the United States. More than 110,000 American restaurants closed permanently or long term due to the pandemic last year, with nearly 2.5 million jobs lost from pre-pandemic levels, according to the National Restaurant Association.

But business is coming back.

As people come out of lockdowns during the pandemic, they look to get out and eat again. Total restaurant and bar sales reached $ 67.3 billion in May, topping $ 66.2 billion in February of last year, according to census data analyzed by the National Restaurant Association. (Adjusted for inflation, this number is about 3% lower than pre-pandemic levels.)

But the leisure and hospitality sector is also facing a labor shortage. In May, 186,000 jobs were created in food services and drinking places, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, which means employment in the sector is still down 12% from to pre-pandemic levels.

So why the lack of catering staff? The reasons are linked to the pandemic, from the slow pace of hiring to fears related to the coronavirus. The shortage is pushing restaurants from mom-and-pop stores to big chains like McDonald’s to offer higher wages and bonuses that will keep workers coming back.

Does automation play a role?

With today’s workforce challenges, restaurants are doing more with less. During the pandemic, every restaurant has had to log in in one form or another, whether it’s launching a website or working with food delivery apps. These orders did not require servers, waiters, or dishwashers to complete. “That’s part of the reason you could get by with fewer workers,” says Sucharita Kodali, analyst at Forrester.

The recent discrepancy between the employment and income figures reflects the shift from retail to e-commerce, where retailers have easily moved to e-commerce, writes Daniel Zhao, an economist at recruitment site Glassdoor, in an e- mail. It is not yet clear whether employers in the restaurant industry are turning to more automation to deal with labor shortages. “If takeout and delivery orders decline as Americans go out to eat more, it will be difficult for employers to rely on automation rather than internal staff,” he says.

Economists say we’ll have to wait and see how restaurants adjust to the new post-pandemic normal to understand if automation increases.

Restaurant workers are gaining influence, for now

There is the question of whether restaurant employment will return to pre-pandemic levels. Hotel and restaurant workers are quitting at the highest rate on record, suggesting some workers are moving into better jobs. decide to switch to greener pastures, ”Zhao explains.

But worker leverage may be short-lived, says Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-wing think tank. While some employers are raising wages, others are offering one-off bonuses, a signal that companies – which balance pent-up demand with a shortage of workers – perceive the shortage of employees as a temporary problem. Signing bonuses have nearly doubled since last May, according to data from Indeed. She argues that wage growth is about the same as it would have been had the recession not taken place.

“To the extent that there are currently shortages in the transfer of power to workers, allowing them to be a little more selective, but we are quickly coming out of this recession, as if things will be back to normal, and there is no was nothing that permanently changed workers’ “status vis-à-vis their employers,” says Shierholz. Most of the job gains in May were in restaurants and bars.

For workers to gain lasting bargaining power, policies will have to change, such as passing a federal minimum wage of $ 15 or the PRO Act, which would strengthen union participation, Shierholz says. “You’re not going to reverse four decades of policies that transferred power to employers with a very temporary increase in demand for labor,” she says.

The restaurant industry seems to finally be getting back on its feet as the economy reopens and more and more people come out without hesitation to dine out. In addition, people are prepared to spend more, thanks to the new round of fiscal stimulus which gives them more purchasing power.

Although retail sales fell in May, sales in bars and restaurants jumped, also indicating that people are spending more on services than on goods. In addition, hiring has also increased in restaurants and bars. The rebound comes after nearly a year of scant activity in restaurants and bars due to the pandemic, which has kept people indoors for months.

Restaurant sales jump in May

The Commerce Department said on June 15 that restaurant and bar sales rose 1.8% in May on a month-over-month basis. Total bar and restaurant receipts were $ 67.3 billion. Year over year, sales jumped 70.6%. The gap is huge because restaurants ended up with almost no customers last year around this time, when the pandemic had just hit and everything had to be closed.

In addition, people did not have enough money to shell out in restaurants as millions of people lost their jobs during this time. That said, restaurant sales have increased over the past three months, indicating that the industry is on track for a rebound.

The jump in restaurant sales comes despite a drop in overall retail sales. The Commerce Department also said people recently spent more on services than on goods.

The restaurant industry on the verge of growth

Until a few months ago, people feared leaving their homes for fear of contracting coronavirus. However, cases have declined over the past three months as more people get vaccinated.

This not only instilled more confidence in them, but also allowed the government to relax restrictions. In addition, President Joe Biden’s new round of $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief stimulus checks has given people more purchasing power.

The story continues

According to a Restaurant Business Online article, citing a report by the National Restaurant Association, American restaurants are on track for a steady recovery after falling 19.2% in 2020, which was also the toughest year. for industry.

In addition, with the continued economic reopening, the restaurant industry is once again in the midst of a wave of hiring. In April, the leisure and hotel industry hired 331,000 people, according to the Ministry of Labor. This is an indication that people have started to frequent restaurants again and that in the coming days, business will explode as more and more people get vaccinated.

Our choices

So this is an opportune time to invest in these restaurant stocks. Each of the stocks carries a Zacks Rank # 1 (strong buy). You can see the full list of today’s Zacks # 1 Rank stocks here.

Bloomin Brands, Inc. BLMN is a casual catering company with a portfolio of differentiated catering concepts. It has five concepts: Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar and Roy’s.

The company’s expected profit growth rate for the current year is over 100%. Zacks’ consensus estimate for current year earnings has improved 87.7% in the past 60 days.

Dine Brands Global, Inc. DIN is a full service catering company. It operates and franchises restaurants under the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar and IHOP brands.

The company’s expected profit growth rate for the current year is over 100%. Zacks’ consensus estimate for current year earnings has improved 40% in the past 60 days.

Ruths Hospitality Group, Inc. RUTH is the largest fine grill company in the United States, measured by the total number of company-owned and franchise-owned restaurants, with more than 150 Ruth’s Chris Steak House restaurants around the world.

The company’s expected profit growth rate for the current year is over 100%. Zacks’ consensus estimate for current year earnings has improved 77.6% in the past 60 days.

Texas Roadhouse, Inc. TXRH is a casual, full-service restaurant chain, offering an assortment of seasoned and aged steaks hand-cut daily on site and cooked to order on open gas grills.

The company’s expected profit growth rate for the current year is over 100%. Zacks’ consensus estimate for current year earnings has improved 35.3% in the past 60 days.

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What a difference it is in the North Coast from a year ago, when local wineries and restaurants began to reopen from the first shelter-at-home order that went into effect statewide in mid-March.

This was reversed in early July 2020, less than a month later, followed by the color-coded tier system in late August which limited customer capacity based on county metrics.

Napa County rose to the least restrictive yellow level on Wednesday. Wineries, restaurants, breweries and distilleries can expand their indoor capacity to the lesser of 50% or 200 people. Outdoor activities had already gained momentum as Memorial Day visitor numbers matched pre-pandemic levels, according to reports.

“There is certainly a lot of life in the valley right now – lots of guests are having fun,” Trefethen Winery president Jon Ruel told The Business Journal.

Demand for wine in barrels is picking up

A proverbial canary in the mine that Ruel has guarded is the Trefethen Cask Business, which is a small subset of the wine from the winemaker that goes to restaurants. Because the kegs go straight to restaurants, it’s a faster measure of restaurant demand than the depletion of cases stored in distributor warehouses, he said.

“Our keg orders have grown faster and more sharply than I expected in February and March,” said Ruel. “And then as we go into April and May, I could see that they were going not only to our accounts in Florida and Texas, where I would expect them, but also to accounts in California.”

According to Heather Clauss, chief commercial officer, Sonoma-based company Free Flow Wines got a double punch following the closure of restaurants, bars, major events and other on-site consumption spots during the pandemic. The Sonoma-based company serves the on-site market with casks and cans of wine.

An oxygen-free process transfers the fine wine into 19.5-liter “bullet casks”, the equivalent of 26 standard 750-milliliter bottles, destined for on-site sites for the glass programs. That almost hit half in the first few months of the pandemic, as distributors sold through existing inventory to support the few open sites, Clauss told the Business Journal.

“When we originally planned for the 2021 keg, we expected a slow recovery from 35% of ‘normal’ volumes in (January) to 75% by the end of the year,” Clauss wrote in an email, noting that the company sees 2019 as a “normal year for sales volume.” We were, however, pleasantly surprised to see a much faster recovery than expected … “

Drum fill requests jumped in April and May to 85% of 2019 levels, and June and July volumes are now approaching pre-pandemic levels.

“Drum shipments follow in a similar fashion,” she wrote.

Event concessions and other on-site venues are a major market for wine in individual aluminum cans, and Free Flow Wines reports a decline in jobs in mid-2020 as orders from dealerships at events and sales other places on site have dried up. in place, says Clauss. But demand for canned wine has picked up and the company is experiencing “strong demand” for jobs in the third and fourth quarters of this year.

“In summary, we hope the on-site recovery will be better than expected, as there have been fewer permanent closings than initially expected and consumer enthusiasm to go out and drink is strong,” said Clauss.

Florida and Texas, which are among the key states for fine wine consumption, began easing pandemic restrictions on indoor dining months ago. Most California places have been banned from eating indoors for the third time from late November to the first two and a half months of this year.

Wholesale orders bounce back

At Schramsberg Vineyards on Diamond Mountain in Napa Valley, owner Hugh Davies has watched massive burnouts for on-site accounts rebound from pandemic lows.

From January to April 2020, which includes a month and a half of restaurant closures across the country, distributors delivered 4,426 cases of wines from the Schramsberg portfolio to restaurants, including an “insanely low number” of just 155 in April. . In the same four months of this year, including the closure of California restaurants in January, 5,614 cases were sold out among wholesalers, including 1,920 in April alone.

He’s eager to see what May’s runouts look like as more restaurants open at higher capacity.

“It’s so exciting to see the (market) on-site grow, because for a while, the only thing you could really do through wholesalers was go more retail,” Davies said.

Jim Pedroncelli, owner of Pedroncelli Winery in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley, can’t wait to put his wine back in restaurants.

“Generally speaking, it’s always more off-sale than on-sale,” Pedroncelli said, referring to off-site and on-site consumer accounts, in other words, retailers and restaurants. “As for the restaurants, it hasn’t caught up with us anyway.”

But the good news for North Coast winemakers is that the economic pain for restaurants – the main buyers of their wines – could end up being less than expected even six months ago. The National Restaurant Association’s latest survey of operators, conducted in mid-April and released last month, found that 90,000 restaurants across the country have closed permanently or long-term, less than 14% of the total. restaurants, down from the December estimate of 110,000, or 17% of establishments, reported Bloomberg.

Wine events return as restrictions ease

At Barra of Mendocino, events are a key source of income, according to owner Martha Barra. The 20,000-case-a-year winery in 2019 hosted 63 events, about a third of which were non-profit, at the Redwood Valley estate north of Ukiah. But none took place between mid-March 2020 and when Mendocino County entered the yellow category at the end of April of this year.

“We had a few very small events in the garden, but nothing inside, but now that is changing,” she said.

Since events resumed at the property in late May, the summer schedule for the outdoor grounds and garden has started to fill with weddings and quinceanera events.

In Schramsberg, Davies is happy to see cellar visitors again, as over the past 14 months the number of visitors has been on average 40% lower than typical cellar seasonal trends.

“Between the fires, COVID, the power outages, they didn’t make it easier,” Davies said.

Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction and real estate. Prior to Business Journal, he wrote for Bay City News Service in San Francisco. He graduated from Walla Walla University. Contact him at [email protected] or 707-521-4256.

DALLAS, Texas (PRWEB)
May 21, 2021

The industry posted stronger 2-year sales for the second consecutive month in April. Comparable store sales growth was 6.8% over two years in April, an improvement of 4.6 percentage points from the two-year growth of 2.3% reported in March. This is optimistic news for the industry as April turned out to be the best month for restaurants based on sales growth for more than three years.

Although sales were back to pre-pandemic levels, 2-year same-store traffic growth was -4.2% in April. Despite the 4.9 percentage point improvement over the previous month’s result, restaurant traffic growth is far from positive. Most of the growth in restaurant sales can be attributed to unusually high growth in average customer checks.

The data suggests that improvements in sales are supported by restaurants meeting or exceeding the expectations of most restaurant customers. The percentage of positive reviews and comments online for restaurants focused primarily on ‘food’ improved by 8 percentage points compared to April 2019. In addition, since August 2020, more than 50% of all food-focused reviews were rated as positive every month after a significant drop at the start of the pandemic.

Likewise, the percentage of reviews and positive comments focused on the restaurant’s “service” has improved by 5 percentage points over the past two years. Customers have been a little more forgiving of “service” than “food”. It was only from March to April 2020 that less than 50% of service-oriented reviews and comments were rated as positive. Each month since June, more than 50% of “service” reviews have been classified as positive.

Despite the strong sentiment about “food” and “service”, customers are not as enthusiastic about their “intention to come back” as they were two years ago. Reviews based on “intention to return” from customers fell 1.3 percentage points less positive compared to April 2019.

Join the dots

As sales and traffic improved in the first quarter, especially compared to the downturn the industry experienced in the fourth quarter of 2020, restaurants faced increased execution issues, particularly given the shortage of personnel facing the sector. More and more people are venturing into restaurants, which means juggling additional restaurant traffic with off-establishment orders that continue to capture a large portion of all sales.

For full-service restaurants, which rely much more on the dining experience than their limited-service counterparts, the improvement in traffic in the first three months of the year was accompanied by an erosion of net sentiment. “Atmosphere” compared to the previous quarter. .

A key factor in this drop in sense of “ambiance” in full-service restaurants appears to be based on customers’ perceptions of restaurant cleanliness. ‘Cleanliness’, a subcomponent of ambience, suffered a drop in net sentiment * of nearly 10 percentage points compared to Q4 2020, as well as toilets. In many cases, customers have been keen to remind the restaurant that their expectations for “cleanliness” are heightened due to the pandemic and have expressed fears that what they perceive as unclean could be a sign of problems with cleanliness. more important in the whole restaurant beyond what they could. see.

For limited-service restaurants, which have performed much better in terms of sales and traffic throughout the pandemic but continue to see restaurant sales decline by a larger margin, the first quarter of 2021 did not represent such a significant acceleration in terms of execution. As a result, Limited Services had less of a negative impact on their net sentiment during the quarter.

Limited-service restaurants continued to face an incredibly low net feeling based on “service”. “Service” had the highest percentage of negative mentions in Limited Service during the quarter (other attributes measured are “food”, “drink”, “ambiance” and “value”).

Common negative mentions related to “service” in limited services included calls from specific staff members who were rude or had a bad attitude. Another sore point was the speed of service, with customers often complaining of unusually long wait times. In many other cases, customers weren’t as nuanced in their descriptions – they simply complained about plain, straightforward “bad service”. With most restaurants operating under fewer staff than their pre-COVID standards, it’s no surprise to hear that employees just aren’t able to provide fast, friendly service every time.

Top DMA

As is common, Orlando has maintained its position at the top of customer sentiment among the nation’s largest markets based on many attributes of the restaurant experience. During the month of April, Orlando restaurant patrons expressed the most positive sentiment based on “food”, “service”, “value” and “intent to return” . This market is also one of the best performing based on same-store traffic growth over the past three months.

Tampa, Sacramento, Denver and New York were also among the strongest in terms of “food” sentiment in April. In fact, sentiment in New York City restaurants turned overwhelmingly positive after the pandemic, having been weak in the run-up to COVID. During the month of April, DMA New York had the most positive sentiment based on the restaurant’s “drink” and “vibe”. It was also among the top 4 markets in the country based on the “value” and “intention to return” of restaurants during the month. This recent positivity bodes well for New York restaurants, which have been hit hard by the pandemic.

COVID also continues to have an impact on “ambiance” restaurants, particularly with regard to “cleanliness”. The 5 DMAs in the country that suffered the biggest losses in restaurant traffic compared to the same period in 2019 are San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, New York and Boston. Large metropolitan areas have been among the most affected by the virus. But restaurant owners have largely taken the right steps to ensure the safety of employees and guests, and people visiting their establishments have noticed and expressed their approval. These five DMAs are also among the top 8 markets with the most positive guest sentiment “vibe” in April. As we have emphasized throughout last year, the “clean” remains the new “ambiance”.

* Net sentiment is a value representing the percentage of positive mentions minus the percentage of negative mentions for a specific attribute of the restaurant experience.

The Restaurant Guest Satisfaction Snapshot ™ (RGSS) is produced using data from Black Box Guest Intelligence ™. Guest Intelligence tracks over 190 brands to gauge customer satisfaction and is the only online tool that integrates with operational performance data to validate impact on financial performance. The dataset focuses on six key attributes of the restaurant industry experience: food, service, ambiance, beverage, value, and intention to return.

The RGSS algorithm determines the top ranked brands based on sentiment. Brands included in this monthly snapshot must have a total of at least 250 mentions for the month. Restaurants must also have a minimum number of units to be eligible. DMA rankings only take into account the 25 largest areas.

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