The 2nd quarter restaurant sales results for the Atlanta market have been released by Bob Wagner and Net Financials. The survey is based on a large sample of independent restaurant owners in the Atlanta marketplace.  It's an important source of information since these companies are privately held.  While public companies report monthly sales trends as part of their communication practices, it's much more difficult to get private company data.  That's one reason the restaurant brokers appreciate this well developed and mature survey data posted once every quarter. 

We especially like the trend when the news is good and this one doesn't disappoint.  According to Wagner, "Atlanta Restaurant Uncork a Sales Surprise in Q2."  What is surprising about the trend? Well, the local market and city the restaurant brokers call home continues to outpace the national results and turn in remarkably good results.

According to Wagner, second quarter sales at Atlanta restaurants increased 4.2% over sales for Q2 2012. That's not only better than last year (Q1 2013) when Atlanta restaurants experienced a quarterly comparable sales increase of 2.4% over Q1 2012 but also beats the national trend. 

Robert Wagner, NetFinancials president stated in his report that, “While comp sales growth of 4.2% doesn’t sound like a lot, consider the environment. Nationally the Q2 restaurant sales trend was just .4% (four-tenths of one percent) according to Black Box Intelligence, a restaurant sales and traffic-tracking company. In addition McDonald’s reported disappointing Q2 US sales growth of just 1%, down from projected growth of 1.5%. Another harbinger of potential disaster was the Metro Atlanta unemployment rate which increased to 8.9% in June. Against this backdrop, our Q2 4.2% sales gain is sparkling.

Bob Wagner, along with Jonathan Maze, editor of Franchise Times magazine was recently on a panel hosted by the restaurant brokers to discuss the 2nd quarter trends and 2rd quarter forecast.  We dedicated an entire We Sell Restaurants radio show to the topic of restaurant sales trending with both of these authorities recently.  The show will air on August 24th at noon on Talk 920 AM in Atlanta, Georgia. 

He shares some of the survey data on our radio show including detail data by segment.  Fully two thirds (67% of the 92 area restaurants surveyed) turned in positive numbers.  Of the restaurants surveyed, 20% reported double-digit sales gains in Q2 2013. That leaves 33% with negative Q2 sales trends.

According to Wagner, “Once again the intrepid Atlanta consumer braved economic bad news and saved the day by continuing to dine out. The breadth of the positive Q2 sales results was impressive. This was not about a couple of restaurants doing well. Fully two-thirds of restaurants we surveyed experienced positive sales in Q2. Our survey shows Q2 2013 was better than Q1 and sales are headed in the right direction.”

National results are not nearly as rosy.  Restfinance and Franchise Times editor Jonathan Maze recently wrote, "Most restaurant sectors aren’t performing to their previously held standards. Casual dining is down. Quick-service restaurants are flat, and even fast-casual chains have seen sales growth slow some. One exception to this rule is pizza, which is generally cheap and works well in a weak economy."  It seems Atlanta is bucking the trend since Wagner says of the local market, "Restaurant operators attribute the sales increase to menu price increases and improved guest counts. They noted that the sales increase would have been greater but for competition from many new restaurants in the Atlanta market.”

The Sample: The 92 independently-operated, non-franchise restaurants were drawn from the metro Atlanta market. Total Q2 2013 survey sales volume was $55,916,371. The sample included restaurants in Atlanta’s fast-casual, casual and fine-dining segments opened at least 18 months.

Robert Wagner, CPA is president of NetFinancials, Inc. which provides a full range of tax and accounting services for restaurant companies. Email: bob.wagner@netfinancials.com. www.netfinancials.com Direct: 404-874-7002.  This NetFinancials restaurant sales survey is provided free of charge as a service to the restaurant industry.