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Texas Alcohol Index - May 2010

Published: 29 July 2010

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 2010: 200.50

TAI May 2009: 194.01

Percentage change from May 09: 3.30%
Inflation Rate for May 2009 - May 2010*: 2.02%

* 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: January 2000. Tracks growth or decline in the mixed beverage market sales from previous months and from the same month last year.

Summary

The TAI crossed the 200 benchmark for the first time in history; making this past May the most prosperous month by on-premise alcohol sales in the history of the state. The gains experienced were fueled by increased consumption during the month of May, a new seasonal trend; an increase in active and reporting establishments, also at a record high; and an increase in consumption in wine and liquor in particular over the past year.

Wine sales were up 8.7% over the same month last year; Liquor was up 3.5%; and Beer sales increased 1.1% or declined 1% if factoring for inflation. Beer continued to lose share this month to both wine and liquor in the on-premise landscape.