MRM Research Roundup: Mid-April 2020 Edition

13 Min Read By MRM Staff

This edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup features the dismal March restaurant sales, security, loyalty, trends and teen consumer behaviors. March Sales DeclineThe rapid decline in sales during the second half of March due to COVID-19 was enough to push the industry down to its worst month in decades. Same-store sales for restaurants dropped by 28.3 percent in March. This update comes from Black Box Intelligence™ (formerly TDn2K™) data from over 50,000 restaurants and $75 billion in annual sales.

The 28.3 percent decline, as disappointing as it is, does not show the full impact the virus outbreak is having on restaurants. Same-store sales for the industry dropped by more than 65 percent during the last two weeks of the month.

“We have reported on restaurant sales and traffic since the last Great Recession, and this is something far beyond anything the industry has experienced,” said Victor Fernandez, vice president of insights and…