Black Box Intelligence released same-restaurant sales data for February. As expected, the data is implying a significant deceleration in comparable sales and traffic trends.
Takeaways:
- SRS fell 5% in February
- 1Q-to-date trends averaging -2.3%
- Winter weather comparisons were a negative factor in first two weeks of February
- The western region (weather not a factor) performed the best: SRS up 2.1%
- New England performed the worst: SRS -8.9%
- Traffic declined -6.2% on top of January’s decline of -3.1%. The rolling 3mo decline in traffic is now -4.2%
- Average check is running +3.3% in 1Q13, up from 1.6% in September 2012
Some upcoming catalysts:
JPM, BofA, UBS conferences this week and next
Our favorite names:
Long: EAT, JACK, CAKE, YUM
Howard Penney
Managing Director
Rory Green
Senior Analyst