Extensive 2020 Restaurant Industry Planning Guide Released by Insights Powerhouse TDn2K

Insights from the 2020 Restaurant Industry Planning Guide

Shifts in Chain Restaurant Spending: 2019 Data and 2020 Outlook

Black Box Intelligence (formerly TDn2K) has released the industry’s most comprehensive 2020 Restaurant Industry Planning Guide, a compilation of data and insights by Black Box Intelligence (formerly TDn2K) analysts and contributing partners. Contributors include features from Niraj Patel from Gallup, Joel Naroff, Black Box Intelligence (formerly TDn2K) Economic Advisor, Michael Atkinson of Orderscape, and Joe Kefauver from Align Public Strategies.

The report revealed that chain restaurant spending has been shifting from full-service brands to those operating under a limited-service model. Quick Service experienced a 0.6 percent year-over-year increase in sales market share by segment, for the period ending in the second quarter of 2019.
“This extensive report is an essential guide for operators working to optimize their strategy in 2020,” said Sarah Higgins, vice president of marketing for Black Box Intelligence (formerly TDn2K). “It is a culmination of Black Box Intelligence (formerly TDn2K) research and data across all of our core products, with commentary and key takeaways to support planning at all levels.”

The report highlighted historical turnover levels for the industry. Findings also include increasing year-over-year hourly wages, an effect of minimum wage increases, labor shortages, and much higher turnover rates for hourly positions. Year-over-year growth for line cooks in full-service restaurants was 3.3 percent in the first quarter of 2019, compared to only 1.6 percent for general managers.

Key metrics from 2019 and data-driven outlook predictions for 2020, featured in this report, include:

• The change in off-premise sales as a percentage of total sales for all segments for the last year as well as the change from 2016.
• A breakdown of cuisine types that were the most successful in 2019 as well as those with negative same-store sales growth.
• The performance spread between top and lower quartile brands in sales growth, traffic growth, turnover, and guest feedback sentiment as tracked by Black Box Intelligence (formerly TDn2K) products.
• A macroeconomic outlook includes insight into the impacts of tax cuts and trade uncertainties.
• A deep dive into the 2020 election and policy issues operators need to be thinking about in 2020.
• A feature on tackling the employee and guest value proposition to activate company culture.

Black Box Intelligence (formerly TDn2K) is the leading insights & knowledge provider of restaurant industry human resources, financial performance, and consumer insights data through their products Workforce Intelligence (formerly People Report), Financial Intelligence (formerly Black Box Intelligence), and Guest Intelligence (formerly Guest Intelligence (formerly White Box Social Intelligence))™. Black Box Intelligence allows organizations to leverage benchmarked data to achieve best-in-class performance results.

Black Box Intelligence currently tracks, analyzes, and benchmarks the largest database of real restaurant data in the US, which includes 300 companies, over 2.7 million employees, and nearly $72 billion in annual revenue. Black Box Intelligence also produces the Global Best Practices Conference held annually every January in Dallas, Texas.