Due to soft sales and traffic levels and a deteriorating outlook among restaurant operators, the National Restaurant Association's (NRA) Restaurant Performance Index (RPI), which tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry, fell 0.1 percent from June to reach 99.4 in July. This is the third consecutive month the RPI stood below 100.

Restaurant operators reported negative same-store sales for the fourth consecutive month in July, with the overall results similar to June. Thirty-nine percent of restaurant operators reported a same-store sales gain between July 2009 and July 2010, matching the proportion of operators who reported higher sales in June. Meanwhile, 44 percent of operators reported a same-store sales decline in July, compared to 43 percent of operators who reported negative sales in June.

Restaurant operators also reported a net decline in customer traffic levels in July. Thirty-five percent of restaurant operators reported an increase in customer traffic between July 2009 and July 2010, up slightly from 33 percent of operators who reported higher customer traffic in June. Forty-six percent of operators reported a traffic decline in July, up from 43 percent who reported lower traffic in June.

The RPI is based on the responses to the NRA's Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey, which is fielded monthly among restaurant operators nationwide on a variety of indicators including sales, traffic, labor and capital expenditures. The full report is available at www.restaurant.org/trendmapper.