While the graph may make things scarier than they appear, July's year over year weighted monthly averages continued to stay positive, ending up at 8% for Full Service restaurants and 4% for Fast Casual restaurants in the DMV. Despite the growth remaining slow but steady, most signs are pointing to restaurant sales continuing to grow even with inflation increasing, including this survey conducted by Popmenu that found that consumers are still spending about 40% of their food budgets on restaurants.
Overall sales ended up at 37% higher year over year through July 2021, and by segment we can see that breaks down to 43% for Full Service and 12% for Fast Casual. Fast Casual's growth trend has been so stable over the past year, it seems like it's about ready to settle down and open up a 401k.
In-house delivery stayed relatively the same for the fourth month in a row, with the DMV teetering just below the rest of the country at 11% and 12% respectively. This is the kind of stability we can get behind as sales staying positive and delivery being stagnant could point to more diners opting for dining in over take out.
We're looking forward to see how August performs and are encouraged by the slow, but steady growth that's continuing despite global economic issues. See you all next month!