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Consumer sentiment driving global QSR visits

Quick service restaurant visits grew in Australia, Canada, China, Great Britain, and United States, where consumer confidence is higher.

April 28, 2015

The NPD Group is reporting that visits to quick service restaurants, which represent the bulk of global foodservice traffic, were more a reflection of consumer sentiment than each country's economic state in the fourth quarter of last year.

Quick service restaurant visits grew in Australia, Canada, China, Great Britain, and United States, where consumer confidence is higher or improving in spite of recovering, slowing or stabilizing economies, according to The NPD Group. Traffic was flat in Japan, Russia and Spain, expressing a decreasing consumer confidence in the weakened economies of Japan and Russia and increased consumer confidence as a result of an improving economy in Spain.

High unemployment in France, a strengthening German economy and negative consumer sentiment in a prolonged economic slide in Italy contributed to QSR visit declines in these countries, according to NPD's global foodservice market research.

The last quarter of 2014 marked a slight turnabout for the global foodservice market. Total foodservice industry traffic was up in the United States but down in Canada. This is a different set of circumstances compared to what has been happening over the last few years.

Foodservice traffic was also weak in the rest of continental Europe, and China once again showed the strongest traffic growth as the market recovered from weak performances in 2013. Total foodservice traffic in Russia dropped by 2 percent due to a sharp decline in consumer confidence based on Russia's unstable economy, according to NPD.