Visits to U.S. restaurants fall for the eighth straight quarter

It's been a rough two years for U.S. restaurants. Visits to restaurants fell 1 percent in the quarter ending in June, for the eighth consecutive quarterly drop, according to The NPD Group, a market research company.

Traffic was weakest at full service restaurants, visits to casual dining restaurants were down 2 percent and mid-scale restaurant traffic was down 3 percent decline. Traffic to fast-food restaurants was stable in the second quarter following five quarters of year-over-year declines, thanks to aggressive promotions of value menus.

Breakfast was the one area of traffic growth this spring, with visits up 1 percent at total restaurants and 2 percent at fast food places. But dinner continued to post weak traffic trends, down 2 percent across all restaurant segments. Lunch visits dropped 2 percent, and lunch traffic at full service restaurants was especially weak.