date:Jan 17, 2014
U.S. restaurant industry sales are projected to exceed $683 billion in 2014, an increase of 3.6 percent from last year, according to a forecast released late on Wednesday by the National Restaurant Association.
The projected rise would mark an improvement from the recession-battered years of 2008 and 2009, but it would lag the industry's boom years in the 1970s - when double-digit annual percentage sales growth rates were not uncommon.
Menu price inflation - resulting from operators' efforts t