NRA projecting restaurant sales to grow 5 percent
Pub Date: 1/1/2007
Restaurant sales to grow 5 percent
In December, the National Restaurant Association projected 2007 sales could grow 5 percent to $37 billion annually. That would amount to 2.1 percent real volume growth with the balance an inflation adjustment.
The NRA projected that Americans will spend 47.9 percent of their food budget in restaurants, which could exceed 935,000 outlets on 2007.
The NRA said Nevada is expected to top the nation with an 8.1 percent gain in sales, while Arizona follows with 7.6 percent, Florida with 7.1 percent, Texas with 6.9 percent, and Idaho with 6.5 percent. The highest restaurant sales volume will be in California where sales are expected to reach $54.2 billion.
Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research and information services for the association, said, "We're looking at another solid year for restaurant industry growth in 2007 boosted by a stable economy, increasing personal disposable income and Americans' hunger for the flavors, experiences and convenience that restaurants provide."
interlocks everywhere
According to the New York Times and Minneapolis Star, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is pushing for increased use of ignition interlock devices in cars, for now as a deterrent to convicted drunk drivers climbing behind the wheel after drinking, but later to be used universally in all vehicles.
The group will now campaign to make the expensive interlocks mandatory for all first-time offenders. But the next phase would be a program to develop and mandate devices that would test all drivers and would disable vehicles if any alcohol was detected, according to Governors Highway Safety Association chairman Christopher Murphy.
Malternatives tax sought
In California, Santa Clara County has sued the state taxing authority to force it to tax drinks such as Smirnoff Ice and Mike's Hard Lemonade, which are a malt beverage like beer, to be classified and taxed like spirits.
Currently, malt beverages are taxed at 20 cents a gallon. The suit is asking the state to tax the malt beverages, also derisively called "alcopops," as hard liquor at $3.30 a gallon, resulting in a 35 cents per bottle tax on the malternatives, and would also force their removal from grocery stores.
Critics claim the beverages appeal to under age drinkers and so should be priced out of range and made less available, supposedly reducing underage drinking.
California would be only the second state to treat "alcopops" as hard liquor. The state tax board estimates that reclassifying the beverages would generate an additional $40 million a year for state coffers.
Beer taxes up 1,300 percent?
Advocates for higher beer taxes in Oregon were cheered when Democrats gained seats in that state's legislature, making it more likely, they said, that they could raise the beer tax 13-fold.
The tax proponents would raise the beer tax from seven cents a gallon to about 90 cents, or from three-quarters of a cent per 12-ounce serving to 10 cents per 12 ounces.
State Sen. Bill Morrisette, D-Springfield, said, "With a Democratic House, Senate and Governor, I think we can pass the bill." However, the tax would only apply to large breweries, and would exempt breweries that produce fewer than 200,000 barrels a year, a limit that would cover most of the in-state brewers.
AAP advocates ad bans
The American Association of Pediatricians is calling on Congress to strictly regulate the content of alcohol beverage advertising, complaining that alcohol ads using sexy women target children and may cause earlier sexual activity among adolescents.
The AAP demanded Congress convene a national task force on advertising under the guidance of the Institute of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health or the Federal Trade Commission.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, Jan., 2007, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.