SalesTrac Weekly Compares Foodservice Market Performance

SalesTrac® Weekly is a short-term tracking service to evaluate same-store trends for the chain and restaurant industry in several countries in Europe, as well as in the United States. Participating chains send their previous week‘s data, based on same-store sales and number of tickets sold. Subscribers to SalesTrac Weekly receive fifty-two weekly reports and four quarterly reports, including comments on the weekly market situation.

Based on this information, SalesTrac Weekly subscribers understand and analyze their own -- and other -- market segments and compare their performance with that of direct and indirect competitors. In doing so, these companies gain a better understanding of consumer trends and preferences within their respective business categories. Furthermore SalesTrac Weekly enables subscribers to create short-term marketing strategies and sales plans, based on the latest available information. Note: All Sales Trac Weekly information is provided on an aggregated basis; to protect confidentiality, individual chain information is not revealed.

Foodservice market performance – U.S., Germany and France

Looking at the overall performance of the foodservice markets in U.S., Germany and France over the first 11 weeks of 2004, SalesTrac Weekly noted positive performance overall; however, it is only when we compare each country’s performance by week, that true understanding can be achieved. What follows is an overview of recent performance reported for each country:

• United States: The U.S. Foodservice recorded an average sales growth per  month in January of 4.4% and 6.5% in February 2004 compared to the previous year. The “Quick Service” segment led this overall positive development, especially the consumers that NPD clusters within the “Quick Service Sandwich” segment. The most positive performance occurred during weeks seven and eight, during which sales percentage growth nearly reached 10%.

Foodservice Market Performance – U.S.

• Germany: In January Germany noted a moderate 1% sales growth, but the “German Foodservice” segment showed an overall increase of 4.1% on a cumulative base of all segments in February 2004. Six weeks of positive sales development in a row is something that the “German Foodservice” segment has not experienced for some time. “Motorway/Gas Station Foodservice” and “Leisure/Entertainment Foodservice” also performed very well in the first two months of the year and helped to generate very positive results in February.

 Foodservice Market Performance – Germany

• France: Among the three countries, France performed best in terms of average sales growth per month in January; however, France registered negative sales figures in February 2004. As in 2003 certain regions in France host skiing/winter holidays in February, which leads to three weeks of holidays out of four. As all the chains covered by SalesTrac Weekly are concentrated in big cities and shopping malls, sales -- as expected -- were lower than they were in January (during which week two and week five showed positive growth).

Foodservice Market Performance – France

Among these three countries the United States demonstrated the most continuous increase in sales percentage-change versus the year prior. Germany and France were not nearly as stable as the U.S. in their positive performance; however, the holidays might have influenced the foodservice sales figures in both countries leading to two very different outcomes. While consumers in Germany generally spent the holidays at home and consumed more during this period (the first two weeks in January 2004), French consumers spent less money, and tended to enjoy their holidays abroad.

For further information about SalesTrac Weekly, please contact Roland Adler at roland_adler@worldwideresearch.de or +49-911-395-4525.