Restaurant Sales – DC – February 2020

Leap Year Is Sweet for DC

DC-area restaurants enjoyed some more love this month, with sales up 6.15% overall compared to last year. Worth noting is leap year 2020’s extra day was on a Saturday, so restaurants benefited from five Saturdays of sales, instead of the usual four. Full-service in particular saw a heart-pounding boost for the month, up 6.79%, delivering its strongest performance in a year. Fast-casual grew 4.58% year over year, continuing on from its solid start to 2020, and edging up its 12-month trailing average from 0.99% in January to 1.19% in February.

The favorable timing of Valentine’s Day, falling on a Friday instead of earlier in the week, also translated into a very lovable 33.79% increase in sales. In DC, there was nothing but love in February!

About these metrics: The MarginEdge monthly snapshot of DC Metro restaurant sales is based on a sampling of 114 area restaurants ranging from fast-casual to full-service.