U.S. restaurant sales forecast to grow 3.6% in 2014
The U.S. restaurant industry projected that sales will peak past $683 billion in 2014, an increase of 3.6% from 2013, according to a forecast released recently by the National Restaurant Association (NRA).
The projected rise would mark an improvement from the recession-battered years of 2008 and 2009, but lags the industry's boom years in the 1970s, when double-digit annual percentage sales growth rates were not uncommon.