Quick-service chains from Carl's Jr. and Jack in the Box to Burger King and Arby's have suffered over the last year thanks to the nation's high unemployment rate, particularly among younger adults. For many of those chains, the breakfast daypart was a saving grace, providing as much as a quarter of sales at some QSRs. Now, the daypart is suffering, according to The Washington Post.
From the story:
But as the jobless rate hit 26-year highs fewer people headed to work, and even those who did worried about their spending. So they poured bowls of cereal at home or simply slept in, putting breakfast on the back burner."Typically, if you're unemployed, you're not getting up at six and not going through the drive-thru," said Jeffrey Bernstein, an analyst at Barclays Capital. "There is a direct correlation between unemployment and breakfast sales."
