Restaurant Sciences Sees Spirits Prices Increase in Low-End and High-End Restaurants

NEWTON, MA--(Marketwired - May 7, 2013) - Restaurant Sciences LLC, an independent firm that closely tracks food and beverage product sales throughout the foodservice industry in North America, reports the top and bottom segments of America's eating and drinking establishments have seen a significant increase in average spirit and cocktail prices over the past 6 months (November '12 thru April '13). The accompanying chart shows the increases by industry segment. The Restaurant Sciences survey showed restaurants with an average party check under $40, as well as those over $90, have seen the average price paid by consumers rise by between 4.5% and 11.2%, with the biggest increases coming at the lowest end of the market. Meanwhile, the big casual dining and bar/nightclub segments, where most spirits are sold, showed virtually no increase in price.

"We looked at a sub-sample from our database of approximately 100 million drink purchases across the USA, and we believe that the increasing price of spirits is the result of a mix of moderate price-taking by operators in the upper and lower tiers, combined with some upward product migration or experimentation by consumers. Independent restaurant operators are driving the spirits' increases, since the chains are far more prevalent in midscale Casual dining where prices are holding steady," said Chuck Ellis, president of Restaurant Sciences LLC.

About Restaurant Sciences

Restaurant Sciences is the premier provider of syndicated data and insights on food and beverage consumption in restaurants, bars, nightclubs and other foodservice establishments. The company delivers market share, market basket, competitive analysis, pricing, promotional, trend, segmentation and custom analytics to food and beverage manufacturers and distributors, as well as the broader industry they serve. Restaurant Sciences transforms over $1 Billion per month in guest check-level sales information into detailed data and insights across all segments of the foodservice landscape in the United States and Canada. Insights are delivered online through their business intelligence tool or through custom analytics. Visit www.restaurantsciences.com.