October sales trends stayed close to September's numbers, increasing slightly for Fast Casual (5%) and remaining about the same for Full Service (11%) when we look at monthly weighted average. Despite the cooler weather, DMV diners still came out in full force.
Overall sales were up 18% compared to October last year, and broken down by segment we see that Full Service was up by 20% and Fast Casual by 9%.
In-house delivery for the DMV stayed the same for the fourth month in a row, as did nation-wide delivery rates at 11% and 13% respectively. It's likely these numbers will increase over the coming months with the holidays, colder weather and daylight savings time ending. We can't discount how much the sun setting earlier makes people want to stay home and stay snuggled under a blanket or two, so we will be keeping our eyes on this chart.
When we look at the day-to-day, the month stayed relatively consistent with no major sales spikes or drops.
In 2021, both Full Service and Fast Casual saw big sales boosts during the holiday season, particularly with Full Service right before Christmas, and Fast Casual during Christmas. We're excited to see if that trend continues. With at-home food inflation increasing at a higher rate than food away from home, it could be that DMV restaurants see an even bigger jump this year.
We'll see you in December!