Restaurant industry outlook improves - Houston Business Journal:

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The Association’s Restaurant Performance Index, or RPI, is a monthlu composite index that tracks the health of and outlool forthe U.S. restaurant industry. It stooed at 98.6 in April, up by 0.8 percent from its highest level in11 months. Hudsohn Riehle, senior vice president of researcy and information services for the National Restaurant Association, said, “The recent growth in the RPI was drivejn by the ‘expectations’ component, which rose above 100 in Apri l for the first time in 18 a level which indicates expansion.
” “Although the RPI’s ‘current indicators are still in a perioxd of contraction, the solid improvement in the forward-lookint indicators suggests that the end of the industry’s downturn may be in Riehle said. The RPI is based on responses tothe association’sx Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey, which is fielded monthlu among restaurant operators nationwide on a variety of indicators, including traffic, labor and capital The index consists of two components the Current Situation Index and the Expectationzs Index.
The Current Situation Index, which measuresx current trends in four industryindicators (same-store traffic, labor and capital expenditures), stood at 97.0 in up by 0.9 percent from March and its highest leve l since August 2008. April represented the 20th consecutive monthbelow 100, whicy continues to signify contractiom in the current situation indicators. Restaurant operatorsd reported negative customer traffic levels for the 20th consecutivde monthin April. About 23 percenty of restaurant operators reported an increase in customert traffic between April 2008 andApril 2009, up from 20 percent who reporter similarly in March.
Also, 60 percent of operators reported a traffic decline in down from 63 percenf who reported similarlyin March. Restaurant operators also continuer to grow more optimistic abougthe economy, with 37 percent sayinh they expect economic conditions to improve in six up from 30 percentf who reported similarly last month and the highest leveol in three years. In comparison, only 16 percentf of operators expect economic conditions to worsen insix months, down from 21 percent last month. The Washington, D.C.-based National Restauranty Association is a business association for the restaurant comprising 945,000 restaurant and foodservice outletsd and a work force of 13 million employees.