Restaurants posted their best sales in September since the pandemic started

Comparable restaurant sales in the U.S. fell 8.1 percent in September, compared to the year-ago period. That’s the best-performing month for U.S. eateries since February, before the coronavirus pandemic hit, according to a report from Black Box Intelligence, a data provider for the hospitality industry.

“Not only was this the first month of the COVID era that had restaurants losing less than 10 percent of their sales year over year, but it also represented a small acceleration in the pace of sales recovery compared to previous months,” the report stated.

However, with COVID-19 cases starting to rise again and cooler weather beginning to limit outdoor dining, Black Box foresees another possible flattening of the recovery curve for restaurants, as happened in July.

Black Box Intelligence currently tracks and analyzes more than 290 brands, 2.3 million employees, 50,000 restaurant units, and $76 billion in annual sales revenue.