Same-store sales and customer traffic

Restaurant operators reported a net decline in same-store sales for the first time in 9 months. 

Thirty-seven percent of restaurant operators said their same-store sales rose between December 2024 and December 2025, according to the National Restaurant Association’s monthly tracking survey. That was down from 47% of operators who reported higher sales in November. 

Fifty-three percent of operators said their sales declined in December, up from 44% in November.

Restaurant operators: Want to know how your business compares to similar restaurants on a monthly basis? Find out by taking a few minutes to participate in the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey. All survey respondents receive exclusive access to the detailed survey results each month, broken out by industry segment and type of ownership.

Restaurant operators also continued to report customer traffic declines in December. 

Twenty-eight percent of operators said their customer traffic rose between December 2024 and December 2025, down from 30% in November. Sixty percent of restaurant operators reported lower traffic in December, up from 51% in November. 

December represented the 11th consecutive month in which operators reported a net decline in customer traffic.

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