Eating and drinking places totaled $92.7 billion in sales during February, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The amount was about $2 billion less than in January, but $3 billion more than the $89.8 billion in sales seen in December.
Year-over-year, sales were more than $12 billion higher than in February 2022. The improvement during the first two months of 2023 could be a sign that pent-up demand is now translating into sales. A National Restaurant Association survey conducted between March 10-12, 2023, found that 41 percent of adults said they were not going out to restaurants as often as they would like — the lowest level reported since before the pandemic.
Members of Generation X were the most likely (53 percent) to say they are not eating on premises at restaurants as often as they’d like. Fewer than four-in-10 baby boomers, millennials and Gen Z adults reported the same, the association said.
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