12/28/05 Growth in the restaurant industry

I happened to be in Vegas last week and was blinded not merely by the Bling Bling but by the explosive growth in every direction. Then I visited Arizona and thought it had about busted its seams with new large scale developments. Who is growing faster. New restaurants are an indicator of growth and a recent report by the National Restaurant Association has listed Nevada as the number one growth area for restaurants at 8.9 percent. Arizona isn't far behind with 8.1 percent, Florida than Colorado and Texas. Nationally restaurants are looking towards 2006 as a boom year with sales forecasted to increase by a whopping 5.1 percent. New restaurants help the economy by providing new jobs. The restaurant industry expects to add 1.9 million jobs in the next ten years. Obviously all are all eating out more and more lavishly so who says our economy is in trouble? Source: National Restaurant Association