Restaurant Sales – DC – August 2021

Sales are cooling off as we head into fall

As summer ends and most kids head back to in-person learning, last month’s sales numbers confirm what many felt but few were brave enough to say out loud: covid has been hurting our sales once again. It’s not all doom and gloom though, as it appears sales have only slightly declined rather than the sharp decrease they showed during the second wave last fall.

Notably in the percent of sales as delivery category, both the DMV and non-DMV restaurants increased slightly meaning more people are dining at home.

Fast Casual restaurants maintained their positive year over year weighted monthly average, although decreasing from July. Full Service still hasn’t quite broken even compared to 2019 sales; however, August’s decrease was only by 1.9%.

We’re looking forward to next month’s trends and seeing if Labor Day weekend shows its traditional spike despite the return of mask mandates and vaccine requirements for diners in some parts of the DMV and across the nation.

Stay safe everyone!

About these metrics: The MarginEdge monthly snapshot of DC Metro restaurant sales is based on a sampling of 300+ area restaurants ranging from fast-casual to full-service.