Lucky month for fast-casual? Perhaps a lucky year?
Fast-casual continues its upswing again this month, with sales up nearly 5.5% compared to last March. Full-service, in contrast, slipped by 2%, bringing down overall sales for March by nearly 1%.
This is the trend to watch: in the first quarter, the fast-casual category outperformed full-service in sales growth every month…and over the past year, it bested full-service in nine out of 12 months.
And how’s Washington holding its liquor? St. Patrick’s Day, a bellwether for beverage sales, fell on a Sunday this year (versus Saturday last year), so that weekend’s sales were slightly more muted than a year ago – down just over a quarter of a percent. Overall, it looks like liquor’s holding steady. Slainte!
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.