Restaurant Industry Returned to Modest Sales Gains and Dampened Customer Traffic in March

After rising to a 13-month high in February, the restaurant industry experienced a minor dip in March, resulting from somewhat softer same-store sales and customer traffic. The National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index fell 0.9% for the month, sitting right at the 100-point mark that signals the difference between industry growth and contraction.

Restaurant operators reported mixed same-store sales in March, with 45% of respondents reporting a sales increase, a decline from the 61% who said the same in February. The number of operators who reported a sales decline also rose from 27% in February to 39% in March. On the customer traffic side, only 31% of operators reported an increase in customers in March, down from 43% in February, while the number reporting a decrease in traffic rose from 30% to 46%. Although those results show a downward trend, the National Restaurant Association pointed out that February benefited from a favorable year-over-year comparison and that March’s results were in line with the previous trend of modest same-store sales growth and dampened customer traffic.

That steadiness is being reflected in operators’ outlook. Forty percent of operators expect their sales volume to increase during the next six months, and 46% believe their sales will remain about the same. Only 14% of operators projected a sales decrease.

Investment in equipment purchases and other capital projects has similarly remained consistent. Fifty-one percent of operators said they made a capital expenditure for equipment, expansion, or remodeling during the last three months — the 10th consecutive month with a reading above 50%. Plans for future purchases also remain strong, with 56% of operators expecting to make a capital expenditure sometime in the next six months.

The full Restaurant Performance Index report for March 2026 is available here.