Adjusted for inflation, total sales volume increased by 2.8 percent in the second quarter compared with the same period in 2025. For fast-food restaurants, the increase was 6.3 percent, according to figures from the industry organisation Visita.
"Reduced fuel taxes have stimulated travel and it is clear that this has also benefited the types of restaurants that many people use when travelling," says Thomas Jakobsson, chief economist at Visita, in a press release.
Looking at the first half of 2026, lunch and dinner restaurants have simultaneously seen a decline in sales volume.
"These are also the types of restaurants that are most clearly disadvantaged when food VAT was lowered in stores but not in restaurants," says Thomas Jakobsson.
