Pursuits
Family Dining Offers Barometer of Middle Income: EcoPulse
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Spending at family-dining restaurants, including Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc., Bob Evans Farms Inc. and Denny’s Corp., is improving after a winter-time slump, helping to offset concerns that U.S. consumption may soften.
“Sales in the second half of the year probably will be better than the first” amid “encouraging signs” the economic recovery is aiding these establishments’ core customers: middle-income households earning about $40,000 to $75,000 a year, said Malcolm Knapp, a New York-based consultant who has monitored the industry since 1970.