As January ends, fourth-quarter earnings for the restaurant industry begin. This quarter laps the last quarter of 2022 where winter storm Elliot ravaged the country with blistering cold and snow. That’s compared to the fourth quarter of 2023 where restaurants were able to celebrate that Christmas landed on a Monday and overall favorable weather through the end of the year.

That means the editors at NRN are anticipating same-store sales increases across many brands though some segments are expected to lag. Mainly casual dining except for Darden, most likely, because of the company’s immense popularity. Five of Darden’s brands landed on our report, America’s Favorite Chains and we expect their earnings to show as much.

Expect the next week to hold some big numbers as Brinker, McDonald’s, Chipotle, and Yum Brands report.

However, investors have said that they expect the consumer to soften in 2024 so this may be the last bit of good news for a while.