Back | Print

Texas Alcohol Index - May 2009

Published: 1 July 2009

Austin, TX: Virtue Group, a restaurant research company, announced today the release of the May TAI, the Texas Alcohol Index. The index is an aid to track the vitality and performance of the on-premise alcoholic beverage market in Texas. The index is released monthly, trailing two months. The TAI is intended to aid in assessing the vitality of the on-premise alcohol market in Texas and the entire full-service restaurant market as a whole.

Virtue Group Texas Alcohol Index: TAI

TAI May 2009: 191.60

TAI May 2008: 197.50

Percentage change from May 08: -2.98%
Inflation Rate for May 2008 - May 2009*: -1.28%

* Estimated inflation based on the change in the CPI-U for the period.

What is the TAI?

Monthly economic indicator for on-premise mixed beverage sales in the state of Texas. Monitors monthly gross alcohol sales relative to a base period: May 2000. Tracks growth or decline in the mixed beverage market sales from previous months and from the same month last year.

Summary

Sales in May saw a decline of 3% verse the same month last year, continuing the trend we have seen throughout the second quarter of this year. Sales in upscale and white tablecloth establishments, which are defined by their appeal to an upscale demographic and their average entree price point, experienced sales decline by 11.5% in the same period. Casual establishments saw declines of 1%. Further, the number of upscale and white tablecloth establishment has decreased this year from last year, whereas the number of casual restaurants has increased.

Liquor sales declined by 3% over the period, beer gained market share experiencing declines of only 0.25%, and wine saw declines of 10%. In an additional note, the comparison of the trend for this May is against last year's May, which was the single highest grossing month for the on-premise industry in the history of the state. May of 2008 experienced a gain of 12.5% over 2007, so despite a decline, the performance of this year's May was still able to preserve most of the phenomenal gains experienced over the last few years in the State.