MRM Research Roundup: Mid-August 2019 Edition

This edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup features memorable mascots, the impact of online reviews, the Retail Renaissance, and  what menu choices might drive consumers to try a restaurant.

Restaurant Sales and Traffic Hit the WallRestaurant sales and traffic plummeted during July, posting the worst year-over-year results in almost two years. Same-store sales growth was -1.0 percent during the month, a drop of one percentage point from June’s results. It is the first time since September 2017 that the industry has seen sales growth numbers this low.

Same-store traffic growth was -4.0 percent during July. This represented a 0.8 percent decline from June’s year-over-year growth and the weakest traffic growth for the industry since August of 2017. This update comes from Black Box Intelligence™ data from TDn2K™, based on weekly sales from over 31,000 locations representing 170+ brands and nearly $72 billion in annual sales.

July has…