Restaurant Themes Replay
We hosted our 1Q22 Restaurant Themes call yesterday.
CLICK HERE for the webcast replay and materials.
Black Box December
Data through the week ending January 2, 2022
Restaurant sales growth improved compared to the previous week but remained much lower than the first half of December. New Year’s Eve occurring on a Friday is partly to blame, but the data suggests there may also be some slowdown in sales from more cautious consumers in response to the new surge in Covid cases. Despite improvement in sales growth, traffic deteriorated during the last week of 2021 and was the worst result for the industry since March. Average check growth posted its highest growth rate in over a decade. In December, the best performing segments were fast-casual, quick service, and fine dining. The mid-afternoon daypart had the highest sales growth during December. There has been a resurgence in breakfast sales, which became the second-best performing daypart of the month. Late-night declined sharply in sales growth during December and is the only daypart that consistently experiences negative growth. In December, the best performing regions were the Southeast, Southwest, and Florida. The worst performing regions based on sales growth were New York-New Jersey, the Midwest, and New England.
CHANGES TO DELIVERY HERO BIZ MODEL
In a Bloomberg article, Delivery Hero is looking to expand newer business offerings, including selling advertising and allowing consumers to delay payments on purchases, which could help the company grow sales as it moves closer to profitability. In an interview Tuesday, the company has rolled out a buy-now-pay-later service in the Middle East and North Africa as part of a test, Chief Financial Officer Emmanuel Thomassin said in an interview Tuesday. He said that Delivery Hero also wants to leverage its platform better to grow ad sales. (DASH has made a small move on this opportunity too.) Advertising has proved an attractive source of revenue for established delivery firms such as Instacart Inc., and Thomassin said investing could generate new sales and “fuel the profit line.” On Monday, the company said its food delivery business would break even in the second half of the year, a projection that includes the recent acquisition of the Spanish startup Glovo. Products that allow consumers to pay for purchases in installments have surged in popularity. Thomassin said such an offering could increase basket sizes and more frequent orders.
