Restaurants vs. grocery stores: Who is winning the share of stomach competition?

Fourth quarter earnings are officially underway and one of the major themes we’ll be keeping an eye on this go-round is traffic. That’s because traffic has become quite challenged in recent months as consumers grow increasingly inflation weary. While menu prices cooled to 5.2% in December — their lowest level since September 2021 — they remain much higher than overall inflation, at 3.9%.