Restaurant Sales – DC – Dec. 2018

DC area restaurants finished 2018 on a very strong note, with December sales up 1.81% year-over-year. This was by far the best month of 2018, with restaurants only seeing sales growth in four months in 2018 and overall seeing a disappointing 1.61% decline in sales for the year. The success in December may be attributable to the winter holidays falling close to the weekends, creating prolonged breaks for many in the area and possibly leading more families to dine out. Full service locations benefitted the most from the increased demand, posting 2.26% growth, despite a 2.22% decline in sales for 2018 in total. Fast casual locations, on the other hand, enjoyed only a 0.60% growth last month but had a significantly better year as a whole, declining in sales by only 0.18%.

About these metrics: The MarginEdge monthly snapshot of DC Metro restaurant sales is based on a sampling of 100+ area restaurants ranging from fast-casual to full-service.