MRM Research Roundup: Mid-January 2021 Edition

This edition of MRM Research Roundup features restaurant industry year-end totals, how restaurant labor is evolving, fast-food brand intimacy and top cities for locavores. An Unpopular YearThe U.S. restaurant industry closed one of the most unpopular years in history moving its way out of the steepest declines the industry has experienced since the Great Recession, reports The NPD Group. Customer transaction declines at major restaurant chains in December were down -10 percent compared to same period year ago, a 27-point improvement from April, the height of the shelter-at-home and restaurant dine-in closure mandates, when transactions declined by -37 percent from a year ago, according to NPD’s CREST® Performance Alerts, which provides a rapid weekly view of chain-specific transactions and share trends for 75 quick service, fast casual, midscale, and casual dining chains representing 54 percent of the commercial restaurant traffic in U.S. 

Full-service restaurant chains…