December Black Box Chain Sales Numbers Are Dreadful, But Annual Numbers Finish Very Slightly Positive

As the folks at Black Box Intelligence, which tracks sales and traffic trends at more than 47,000 chain units weekly, telegraphed last month, same-store sales were negative in December, the worst performance in two years. Comp sales dropped 2.1% versus December 2018. Traffic remained a huge issue, with guest counts falling 5.7% versus those in…