US on-premise recovery continues

Consumers, COVID-19, Nielsen CGA, United States
Sales across the US restaurant and bar market continued to grow in the week up to May 30, despite civil unrest in a number of city centres across the country. Research by CGA’s Chicago-based operation Nielsen CGA shows that on-premise sales nationally were only 39% below pre-COVID norms, and up 118% on the week of March 28 when lockdown started to kick-in.
     
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Reopened states give boost to US out-of-home recovery

Consumers, COVID-19, Nielsen CGA, United States
Sales across restaurants and bars in the US grew by 25% week-on-week between May 9 and May 16 as a number of major states reopened for business. Latest data from Nielsen CGA* show that while national sales are still 54% down on pre-COVID levels, the opening up of the out of home market in states such as Texas, Florida and Georgia has provided a fillip for the industry. When lockdown first hit, overall sales fell by 80%.
     
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US consumers get ready to go out again

Consumers, COVID-19, Nielsen CGA, United States
As more US states prepare to lift lockdowns, American consumers are considering under what circumstances they will begin returning to bars and restaurants. The biggest concern is social distancing, according to research carried out by Nielsen CGA among 1,600 consumers from the states of New York, California, Illinois and Florida over the weekend of April 24-27.
     
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Take-out and delivery: one bright spot in a devastated US market

COVID-19, Delivery, Nielsen CGA, RestauranTrak, United States
The US restaurant industry has now lost two-thirds of its workforce, more than eight million employees, as a result of COVID-19 closures, according to latest data from the National Restaurant Association.It reported that more than 60% of restaurant owners believed that existing federal relief programs would not enable them to keep their teams on payroll during the downturn. It said that nationally restaurants had lost $30 billion in March, and were on track to lose $50 billion in April, and estimated that COVID-19-related loss would be more than $240 billion by the end of the year.
     
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Take-out switch still leaves US restaurants under pressure

Consumers, COVID-19, Nielsen CGA, RestauranTrak, United States
As bars and restaurants across the United States close or significantly reduce their operations in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have switched focus to take-out food and drink. Before the outbreak, take-out accounted for 11% of spend in US restaurants, but latest figures from Nielsen CGA’s RestaurantTrak dataset shows that for sites still operational, take-out sales grew 110% in the week ending March 28. Consumer research conducted by Nielsen CGA in the four major states, New York, California, Illinois and Florida, revealed that 66% of people say they have ordered a take-out or delivery in the past two weeks. Nonetheless, even for those restaurants and bars that have been able to stay open, overall sales still fell 77% in the same week.
     
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Hard Seltzers are shaking up the U.S. bar and restaurant competition

CGA News, Drinks, Nielsen CGA, Trends, United States
Hard seltzers generated $1.2 billion in sales in U.S. on-premise venues during 2019, with 462% dollar sales growth. According to findings from US-based Nielsen CGA, the number of consumers drinking hard seltzers at bars and restaurants increased by 73% between the spring and fall of 2019: That’s equivalent to around 7.5 million new drinkers.
     
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