MRM Research Roundup: End-of-February 2021 Edition

This edition of MRM Research Roundup features news of The Chicken Wars, the best cities for chefs and a cocktail hangover index.An Encouraging JanuaryJanuary was encouraging for the restaurant industry. With same-store sales growth of -4.9 percent and traffic growth of -12.2 percent, it was the best performance for restaurants since the beginning of the pandemic almost a year ago, according to The Restaurant Guest Satisfaction Snapshot produced by data from Guest Intelligence™, a Black Box Intelligence Product.

This is good news for an industry that struggled the last two months of 2020, as sales and traffic growth worsened compared to the COVID-era peak achieved in October. Likely contributing to some of the consumer pent up demand for restaurant spending was a combination stimulus check distribution, a sense of optimism from turning the page on 2020 and the increased prospect of additional government aid soon.

There also continues to be resiliency from restaurant operators, and…