Sales Trends

This post is part of the On the Margin blog. News that Cosí Inc. filed for bankruptcy Wednesday came as no surprise to industry observers. The chain has lost money for years. And lots of chains are taking the debt-protection route these days...

CEO blames traffic shortfall, lower consumer spending

This post is part of the On the Margin blog. Restaurants can’t seem to get enough of Millennials. They’re designing restaurants with them in mind. They’re changing their menus to remove unwanted additives and insert more fresh ingredients. The...

Company and investors hope deal paves the way for expansion for both companies

This post is part of the On the Margin blog. Thank God for lower commodity costs. Restaurants faced a dual threat of lower sales and higher labor costs in the first half of 2016, according to the latest benchmarking report from the consulti...

This post is part of the On the Margin blog. This morning, Chipotle Mexican Grill began a renewed push to convince its customers that its food is safe, one year after its crisis began. In the process, its chief marketing officer, Mark Crumpack...

Continued traffic decline fuels summer of restaurants’ discontent, MillerPulse finds

This post is part of the On the Margin blog. The recent slowdown in same-store sales and traffic has had a major impact on the restaurant industry. Several CEOs have been replaced in the past two months, and stock prices have struggled. But...

This post is part of the On the Margin blog. Same-store sales are a terrible measure of a restaurant chain’s performance. That sounds awfully rich coming from a guy who more or less earns his living off writing about just that thing. And sa...

This post is part of the On the Margin blog. Much has been said recently about a potential “restaurant recession.” Same-store sales have taken a sudden, almost inexplicable turn for the worse beginning in March. That has led to inevitable s...