Here are some quotes from recent earnings calls highlighting what we see as two camps in the restaurant industry with respect to rhetoric around the issue of the economy.

WINNERS

"When you look at the backdrop of the economy against our numbers or the other retailers that did not perform as well the last few months, it's really a stunning result."

-SBUX, 11/3/11

"But we still look guardedly at the overall economy, and we didn't really dwell on it looking at next year's comps… The truth is that over a multi-period now, over a decade plus, our consumers, we've proven fairly resilient in both boom times and more difficult economic times. And we continue to be very respectful of that, though we understand the issues that are in the economy."

-PNRA, 10/26/11

"Despite some uncertainty among consumers about the macroeconomic environment, we're pleased to report our fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit comps since the economy began to recover last year, with a comp of 11.3% in the quarter."

-CMG, 10/20/11 [only one mention of “economy” in the transcript]

"As I've mentioned before on these calls that even though today's slow national economy has caused the postponement or cancellation of many new retail projects, our BJ's new restaurant development pipeline remains in excellent shape."

-BJRI, 10/20/11 [only one mention of “economy” in the transcript]

"And in the midst of a global economy that's been both challenged and volatile for over three years, our business has been resilient and even prosperous."

-DPZ, 10/18/11

"In terms of month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter economic trends, I don't know if we're any better than anybody else who is out there. As I said before, I feel we could deal with the environmental shifts, whatever they are, pretty well given the quality of our team, our national presence, and the different day parts that we have” (specific to China).

-YUM, 10/05/11

WHINERS


"As bullish as we are about this initiatives, there's no question that the soft economy is creating challenges."

-DIN, 11/3/11

"As bullish as we are about this initiatives, there's no question that the soft economy is creating challenges."

-PFCB, 10/27/11

"During the quarter, we continued to face challenging macroeconomic conditions, unemployment rate remained high and the policy debates that occurred in Austin around the budget deficit along with the downgraded U.S. credit rating caused the consumer to form a more pessimistic view about the future of the economy."

-EAT, 10/26/11

"And so, it's been a challenge for us with this change in the economy to use the resources we have, dollars for advertising, menu items, new product news, to be able to move business across those multiple day parts because of what I referred to earlier, that is pre-recession, one promotion really driving business generally."

-SONC, 10/18/11

"Conditions in the U.S. economy and the prices and supply of food and oil continue to be concerns."

-CBRL, 09/13/11

"It's just – I'm just saying the economy has been so difficult, but that's just the conditions. So there's no whining around here. It's the new normal. We'll make it work. (mentioned “economy” 6 times, more than any other restaurant company in our screen)."

-COSI, 08/11/11

Howard Penney

Managing Director

Rory Green

Analyst