Feb
8
2009
pavlovian eating 2009
Anecdotally, it’s becoming apparent that restaurants are struggling as consumers pull in their spending reins. It seemed to start with the gas price crisis, and certainly is continuing through the economic downturn. People are simply not going out as much as a higher share of earnings are applied towards savings, and as job security fears weigh heavily on consumer’s minds.
I discovered a year end research report synopsis on consumer restaurant spending by a small blog post on the finance blog, Infectious Greed, which linked to the NPD Group’s 2008 research results summary. The details are insightful, and point to the critical importance of incentive offers to entice consumers into restaurants in 2009.