NetFinancials, a tax and accounting firm for restaurant companies, released the following financial data.
Atlanta restaurant sales volume posted positive growth in Quarter 2 2013. During that quarter sales at Atlanta restaurants increased 4.2% over sales for Q2 2012. This increase contrasts with Q1 2013 when Atlanta restaurants experienced a quarterly comparable sales increase of 2.4% over Q1 2012.
Quarter 2, 2013 vs. 2012
Positive sales gains were reported at 67% of the 92 area restaurants surveyed. Of the restaurants surveyed, 20% reported double-digit sales gains in Q2 2013. That leaves 33% with negative Q2 sales trends.
Conclusion
Robert Wagner, NetFinancials president states that, “While comp sales growth of 4.2% doesn’t sound like a lot, consider the environment. Nationally the Q2 restaurant sales trend was just .4% (four-tenths of one percent) according to Black Box Intelligence, a restaurant sales and traffic-tracking company. In addition McDonald’s reported disappointing Q2 US sales growth of just 1%, down from projected growth of 1.5%. Another harbinger of potential disaster was the Metro Atlanta unemployment rate which increased to 8.9% in June. Against this backdrop, our Q2 4.2% sales gain is sparkling.
“Once again the intrepid Atlanta consumer braved economic bad news and saved the day by continuing to dine out. The breadth of the positive Q2 sales results was impressive. This was not about a couple of restaurants doing well. Fully two-thirds of restaurants we surveyed experienced positive sales in Q2. Our survey shows Q2 2013 was better than Q1 and sales are headed in the right direction.”
“Restaurant operators attribute the sales increase to menu price increases and improved guest counts. They noted that the sales increase would have been greater but for competition from many new restaurants in the Atlanta market.”
The Sample: The 92 independently-operated, non-franchise restaurants were drawn from the metro Atlanta market. Total Q2 2013 survey sales volume was $55,916,371. Our sample included restaurants in Atlanta’s fast-casual, casual and fine-dining segments opened at least 18 months.
For more information, email bob.wagner@netfinancials.com, visit www.netfinancials.com or call 404-874-7002.
