February 2, 2009 ARKANSAS BUSINESS 19

Of the restaurants on the list that are full-service, which includes table service, 12 saw declining revenue in 2008 while only four full-service res-taurants felt an upswing.

The opposite is true in North Little rock.

Of the full-service restaurants on the North Little rock list, 12 stores experienced revenue growth in 2008 while four declined.

Fast food restaurants on the list and their higher-quality counterparts, the “fast casual” restaurants, which don’t include table service, told a different story.

Of the fast food and fast casual restaurants in Little rock, sales at 11 stores grew in 2008 while sales at the other three declined.

For the same year, nine of the fast food and fast casual restaurants on the North Little rock list grew, while five stores watched revenue fall.

“It could be that people that were coming to Little rock are staying home and eating in North Little rock,” McNulty of the aHa said.

Overall, much of consumer behav-ior during 2008 centered on cost control, McNulty said. Whether it’s seen in McDonald’s capital per-formance, a fledgling Chick-fil-a’s sprint to the third-highest grossing restaurant in Little rock or the resurgence of Franke’s Cafeteria, consumers are spending more fru-gally.

With those restaurants, consumers “can control their costs,” McNulty said. “and I think, again, in this kind of an economy that’s probably a very attractive choice for customers.”

Of the 13 “upscale” restaurants in Little rock and North Little rock that Arkansas Business tracked, only one that had been open for two full years — Ferneau in Little rock — showed an increase in revenue. (See table.)

Copper Grill & Grocery in down-town Little rock opened in July 2007, so it was open twice as many months in 2008 but reported only 62 percent more revenue.

Two of the upscale restaurants have closed since the end of 2008: aydelotte’s in North Little rock, which has converted to a u.S. Pizza Co., and Gypsy’s bar & Grill in Little rock. n

Copper Grill & Grocery in downtown Little Rock, one of 13 “upscale” restau-rants tracked by arkansas business, opened in July 2007, meaning it was open twice as many months in 2008. However, it report-ed only 62 percent more revenue.

Michael Pirnique

Michael Pirnique

Highest-Grossing Fayetteville Restaurants

Highest-Grossing Coffee Shops

Highest-Grossing Hot Springs Restaurants

Highest-Grossing Bentonville Restaurants

Highest-Grossing Upscale Restaurants

Highest-Grossing Conway Restaurants

(2 percent food tax) revenue for 12 months ended november 20081 Olive Garden $3,675,5822 Red Lobster $3,635,1573 Golden Corral $3,618,1384 Chartwell’s Dining Compass Group USA, Inc. $3,297,8155 Chick-Fil-A (college avenue) $3,232,6136 Shogun Japanese Steak & Sushi $2,934,9007 Penguin Ed’s Barbeque $2,900,0208 Clarion Inn $2,706,3009 Logan’s Roadhouse Restaurant $2,685,13710 McDonald’s (Joyce Boulevard) $2,683,300 Source: Fayetteville Advertising & Promotion Commission

in Pulaski county 2008 2007 % Change1 Starbucks (JFK) $841,627 $893,414 -5.80% 2 Starbucks (Broadway) $793,754 $492,537 61.20% 3 Starbucks (cantrell and Sam Peck) $762,863 $780,078 -2.20% 4 Starbucks (cantrell and Mississippi) $731,503 $822,112 -11.00% 5 Starbucks (Financial center Parkway) $606,959 $694,659 -12.60% 6 Starbucks (rodney Parham) $581,182 $560,793 3.60% 7 Starbucks (university avenue) $498,656 $535,024 -6.80% 8 Starbucks (Kavanaugh) $420,020 $432,545 -2.90% 9 Starbucks (east Mccain) $401,444 $379,660 5.70%10 Andina Café $112,309 $121,207 -7.30%*12 months ended november 2008**april - December

(3 percent food tax)2008 revenue1 Red Lobster* $3,091,4382 Olive Garden* $2,991,4683 Outback Steakhouse $2,905,5124 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store $2,896,9775 McDonald’s (east Grand avenue) $2,625,9866 Southwestern Catering $2,616,4677 Ryan’s Family Restaurant $2,577,8678 Chili’s $2,212,3109 Arlington Restaurant $2,204,61510 Colton’s Steak House $2,105,485 Source: Hot Springs Advertising & Promotion Commission

*red lobster and Olive Garden are behind on two payments because of a mailing address misunderstanding.

(1 percent food tax) revenue for 12 months ended november 20081 Eurest Dining (Wal-Mart cafeteria) $4,574,1362 McDonald’s #5430 (South Walton Boulevard) $2,395,6003 McDonald’s #22041 (Southeast 14th Street) $2,109,4004 McDonald’s #32295 (Peach Orchard) $1,946,7005 Sam’s Club $1,840,7706 Lin’s Garden Chinese Restaurant $1,777,3007 Chick-Fil-A $1,613,8848 Wal-Mart Supercenter Deli $1,680,7579 Shogun Steakhouse of Japan $1,588,10010 Sonic Drive-In (Southeast 14th Street) $1,556,000

Source: Bentonville Advertising & Promotion Commission

in Pulaski county 2008 2007 % Change1 Sonny Williams Steak Room $1,698,348 $1,961,894 -13.4% 2 Trio’s Restaurant & Catering $1,600,489 $1,694,711 -5.6% 3 Brave New Restaurant $1,345,841 $1,464,755 -8.1% 4 Capers $1,161,364 $1,292,378 -10.1% 5 Restaurant 1620 $909,139 $1,104,014 -17.7% 6 Ferneau $873,203 $844,420 3.4% 7 Copper Grill & Grocery $777,337 $480,100 61.9% 8 Mike Selig’s Vermillion $688,067 $784,978 -12.3% 9 Ristorante Capeo $506,167 566,900 -10.7% 10 Acadia Restaurants $335,749 $355,973 -5.7% 11 Ciao Baci $317,147 $348,655 -9.0%12 Aydelotte’s $306,533 $597,133 -48.7%13 Gypsy’s Bar & Grill $294,015 $341,504 -13.9% *12 months ended november 2008** July - December

(2 percent food tax)revenue for the 12 months ended november 20081 Chili’s Bar & Grill (Oak Street) $4,307,4552 McDonalds (Salem road) $3,452,3713 Cracker Barrel $3,359,0474 Chick-Fil-A (Oak Street) $3,301,4525 Marketplace Grill $3,298,7706 Outback Steakhouse $2,857,1087 Mike’s Place $2,781,8718 McDonald’s (Oak Street) $2,684,6019 McDonald’s (hwy 65 north) $2,481,95610 Colton’s Steak House & Grill $2,402,396

Source: www.pulseofconway.com and Conway Advertising & Promotion Commission

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“It could be that people that were coming to Little Rock are staying

home and eating in North Little Rock.”

— Montine McNulty,executive director of the arkansas hospitality

association