January National Restaurant Sales Metrics

Winter may be here, but national restaurant sales were heating up this past January. 

Overall sales ended at 19% up compared to January 2022, peaking mid-month around 35%. 

By segment, Fast Casual ended up on top with 20% sales growth but Full Service was not far behind ending at 14% above last year (hello, double digits). 

Lettuces continued to drop last month, meaning all those New Years resolution-motivated salads probably had some better margins, while cucumbers snagged 3 of the top spots on the Movers list.

Food, beer and liquor costs as a percentage of sales all increased for MarginEdge customers in December, with food costs averaging 33% of sales.

These are exactly the kind of numbers we want to see starting the year! It's important to note that January 2022 saw the peak of the Omicron subvariant, so these numbers may settle a bit moving into February. We are still looking forward to more positive numbers next month! See you then.