Restaurant and Pub Sales down 1.9% in 2009

Restaurant sales shrank 1.5% on an absolute basis in 2009, according to data released Monday by the Japan Food Service Association, the first YOY fall since 2003. While customer traffic rose 0.2%, per-customer spending dropped 1.7% amid a brutal price war.

Family restaurants saw a 4.7 percent drop in customers, marking the second consecutive year of decline.

Pubs including "izakaya" Japanese-style food and drink outlets saw a 5.8 percent fall in sales, while sales at coffee shops tumbled 5.1 percent.

Fast-food chains, which generally offer low-price menus, logged a 2.5 percent rise in revenues and a 2.7 percent gain in the total number of customers with average spending down only 0.1 percent.

It is not surprising that family restaurants, coffee shops and pubs have suffered a decline in sales as discretionary consumer spending has been impacted by economic conditions; and as has been previously seen fast food chains have benefited as customers have shifted to lower priced food.

http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/e/fr/tnks/Nni20100125D25SS515.htm

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