EAT - St. Patrick's Day marks the start of restaurant recovery period

St. Patrick's Day marks the start of what will be a long period of comparable sales recovery for the restaurant sector. Baird breaks down the early trends as the industry begins to lap the period of restaurants being closed for indoor dining. "Data from our most recent weekly survey revealed a strong acceleration in comps due to the cycling of the negative impacts associated with the initial shock of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year-ago period. Combined two-year comps were somewhat softer than in the prior week, but still better than in February. We expect demand trends to improve sharply in upcoming weeks (including on a two-year basis) behind the positive consumer spending impacts from government stimulus checks (benefits should become evident this week)." Some firms thinks larger restaurant chains will nab market share from a thinner playing field of independent restaurants as indoor dining takes off in late spring

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St. Patrick's Day marks the start of restaurant recovery period