Technomic Information Services held its annual Restaurants: Trends & Directions Conference in Rosemont, Ill., on June 18. Paul Kasriel, director of economic research with Northern Trust Corporation, kicked off the event with his presentation, “Economic Overview 2009.” In the year since the last Technomic Trends & Directions Conference, the economy has undergone quite an upheaval, though the current recession actually began in December of 2007. He believes the worst has past, though the economy will contract more in 2010.
With a decline in house prices, there was a decline in home equity. With less equity to extract, consumers have reduced discretionary spending -- this, among many other reasons, has obviously impacted dining out. That point was demonstrated again in Ron Paul’s presentation. Paul, founder, CEO and president of Technomic Information Services, revealed the [foodservice] industry grew only 0.4% in 2008. While the top 100 and top 500 each grew 3.4%, respectively, the rest of the industry fell 4.3%, and full-service restaurants (FSR) experienced a 2.5% decline in sales.