The restaurant industry continued to struggle during the fourth quarter of 2010, according to a leading research firm.
New data from the NPD group show that while business was up very slightly at the two ends of the spectrum — fast-food and fine dining — traffic actually dropped a little for all the moderate restaurants in between.
For example, customer traffic dropped by 3% at midscale restaurants compared with a year earlier, and by 2% at casual dining eateries, a category that includes such chains as Panera Bread or Applebee's. At fast-food restaurants, by comparison, traffic was up by 1%.
The best news was at fancy restaurants, where traffic was up by 3% for the second year in a row. The improvement comes after several quarters of steep declines during the lowest points of the economic downturn.
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