Black Box Intelligence

There has been considerable speculation about the impact of the new administration’s policies. This includes potential tariffs, cutting the budget on marketing U.S. destinations overseas, and a newly announced $250 Visa Integrity fee, which will affect International travel to the United States.

Miami, the city with the most international travelers per resident, has also struggled. However, it’s less dramatic than Las Vegas in 2025. Its same-store traffic is down -2.3% year over year, -0.4% better than the national industry benchmark.

Conversely, San Francisco and Orlando mildly outperformed the national benchmark. Each put up -1.4% traffic for 2025 to date, compared with 1.9% for the country.

However, Orlando’s yearly growth numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. This is because they are lapping over a particularly poor first half of 2024 (-4.3% traffic in Q1 2024 and -4.9% traffic in Q2 2024).

To add a little context, Orlando’s 2-year traffic growth numbers are underperforming the rest of the country (-5.9% for Orlando and -4.9% for the Nation).

Honolulu paints an entirely different picture altogether. Their restaurant traffic growth is actually positive in 2025 to date at 0.8%.

This aligns with the Hawaiian Department of Tourism’s data, which shows that visitor numbers increased in April and May.

Despite a rocky start to the year... with weather disruptions, inflation fears, and a dip in consumer sentiment😵‍💫... restaurant consumers are showing up. 👇

And they’re speaking clearly with their wallets. 💳🍽️

According to Black Box Intelligence, comp sales and traffic are on the rise, with June posting the best comp sales in 18 months and best traffic in two years (excluding seasonal outliers).

But that's not a blanket win for everyone...

📊 So, what does this mean for restaurant leaders?

→ Understanding consumer behavior isn’t optional anymore👉 it’s your edge.
→ The brands winning today are meeting guests where they are: with value🤑, quality🍽️, and compelling experiences🤝.
→ Your growth strategy in the back half of 2025 must account for shifting traffic patterns and the rise of category crossovers🌱.

At Black Box, we’re here to help you dig beneath the headlines and turn insights into action.

🤔 We’d love to hear from you:
How are you seeing these trends play out in your locations?
Are you adjusting your strategy for Q4 based on this momentum?

Let’s be honest about what most multi-unit brands are up against...

👎 Disjointed tech stacks: Survey tools here, review platforms there, endless spreadsheets everywhere
👎Feedback with no context: You see the complaint, but not who it affected or when
👎Teams drowning in data: More feedback, less clarity — and a whole lot of contradictions

The result? Well-meaning teams make decisions based on limited or lagging insights and the guest experience suffers.

More data isn’t helping because it’s scattered, slow, and often contradicts itself.

So, how do you centralize the data in a way to thrive instead of confuse?

Guest Intelligence is a unified platform designed specifically for restaurants, combining digital surveys, reputation management, and powerful feedback analytics: all in one place.

With Guest Intelligence, you can capture, analyze, and respond to every guest interaction across your business quickly, consistently, and with confidence.

Here’s what’s inside:
🗳️ Survey Studio – Fully customizable surveys tailored by location and menu, now seamlessly integrated with the Yumpingo technology we acquired in April.
📲 Reputation Hub – A centralized view of real-time guest reviews and social sentiment.
💬 Response Center – Scalable tools to manage and engage with guest feedback across every channel.
🤖 Restaurant-Trained AI – Smart insights, intuitive tools, and data-driven recommendations purpose-built for restaurants.
🕸️ Restaurant Performance Network – A one-of-a-kind benchmarking tool that helps you determine if it’s your operation—or market conditions—impacting performance, by linking guest experience, financials, and workforce metrics.

Learn more: https://blackboxintelligence.com/blog/why-its-time-to-rethink-guest-feedback-the-complete-guest-experience-solution/