LOS ANGELES - THE performance of US restaurants worsened in November as visits and sales at established eateries declined from a year earlier, the National Restaurant Association said on Wednesday.

'A solid majority of restaurant operators reported negative same-store sales and traffic levels in November, while nearly one-half expect their sales in six months to be lower than the same period in the previous year,' said Mr Hudson Riehle, the NRA's senior vice-president of research and information services.

The NRA represents 945,000 restaurant and food service outlets in the United States.

Its Restaurant Performance Index, which tracks the health and outlook for the industry, fell to a record low of 96.7 per cent in November, down 0.4 per cent from October. The index has been been below 100 for 13 months.

With the exception of top-performing chains like McDonald's, restaurants have been hard hit by the US housing market collapse and the subsequent recession and credit crunch.

Diners, who are grappling with rising unemployment and job insecurity, are cutting back on meals away from home and trading down to lower-cost fast-food restaurants.

'Looking forward, restaurant operators aren't particularly optimistic about an improvement either, with 49 per cent expecting economic conditions to worsen in six months,' Mr Riehle said.

Earlier this month, NRA said restaurant sales are expected to be US$566 billion (S$812.5 billion) in 2009.

The association said that while its forecast projects a 2.5 per cent increase from 2007 in current-dollar sales, the numbers translate to an inflation-adjusted decline of 1 per cent.

NRA said the restaurant industry accounts for 4 per cent of US gross domestic product and employs 9 per cent of the US work force. -- REUTERS