Restaurant industry outlook improves - Houston Business Journal:

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The Association’s Restaurant Performance Index, or RPI, is a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook forthe U.S. restauranr industry. It stood at 98.6 in up by 0.8 percent from March, its highest leve l in 11 months. Hudson Riehle, seniod vice president of research and information services for the NationallRestaurant Association, said, “The recent growth in the RPI was drivenn by the ‘expectations’ component, which rose above 100 in Apri l for the first time in 18 months, a level whichh indicates expansion.
” “Although the RPI’s ‘current situation’ indicators are stillp in a period of contraction, the solid improvement in the forward-lookingf indicators suggests that the end of the industry’sd downturn may be in sight, Riehlr said. The RPI is based on responses tothe association’s Restaurantf Industry Tracking Survey, which is fielded monthly amonyg restaurant operators nationwide on a varietyh of indicators, including sales, traffic, labof and capital expenditures. The index consistsw of two components — the Current Situationn Index and theExpectations Index.
The Current Situation which measures current trendxs in four industryindicators (same-store sales, traffic, labod and capital expenditures), stood at 97.0 in up by 0.9 percent from March and its highest levelo since August 2008. However, April represented the 20th consecutiv monthbelow 100, whic h continues to signify contraction in the currengt situation indicators. Restaurant operators reported negativse customer traffic levels for the 20th consecutive month in About 23 percent of restaurant operators reportecd an increase in customer traffic betweeb April 2008 andApril 2009, up from 20 percent who reported similarl in March.
Also, 60 percent of operatorsw reported a traffic decline in April, down from 63 percent who reported similarlu in March. Restaurant operators also continue to grow more optimisti aboutthe economy, with 37 percent sayingt they expect economic conditions to improve in six months, up from 30 percenrt who reported similarly last month and the highestf level in three years. In comparison, only 16 percent of operators expect economic conditions to worsen in six down from 21 percentrlast month. The Washington, D.C.
-based National Restauran Association is a business association for therestaurant industry, comprisiny 945,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets and a work forcew of 13 million employees.