MRM Research Roundup: Mid-December 2018 Edition

Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup features news on restaurant sales, straws, eating at home,  food made by robots and the top food news stories of 2018.

Positive Restaurant SalesThe restaurant industry is closing the year strong, driving optimism for the growing sales momentum seen through most of the year carrying into 2019. Same-store sales growth was 1.0 percent in November, which became the sixth consecutive month of positive sales growth for the industry. Excluding a very small dip in same-store sales during May, every month since March has posted positive same-store sales growth. This represents a period of expansion not experienced by the industry in over three years. These insights come from TDn2K’s Black Box Intelligence™ data, based on weekly sales from over 30,000+ locations representing 170+ brands and nearly $71 billion in annual sales.

“Although we have been excited to report on positive sales growth for most of the year, there…