U.S. restaurant unit counts declined by 2 percent, or a loss of 9,450 restaurants, according to an annual, and much-quoted, census published by the NPD Group, a Chicago-based market research company. UPDATE: The same survey shows no statistical difference in the total number of restaurants in the Baltimore area.

Translating that statistic into plainspeak is tempting, but it is wrong to say, as I've seen elsewhere, that there were 9.450 closings.

Am I right about this? Read on  - the rest is directly from the NPD press release:

"U.S. restaurant unit counts declined by -2 percent, or a loss of 9,450 restaurants, based on the most recent restaurant census conducted by The NPD Group, a leading market research company. NPD's Spring 2011 ReCount®, which is a census of commercial restaurant locations in the United States compiled in the spring and fall each year, finds most of the total unit declines were independent restaurants, 8,650 of which closed in the census period. Chain restaurant unit counts remained relatively stable.

NPD's Spring 2011 ReCount, which was collected from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011, finds that the number of quick service restaurants declined by -1 percent or 3,485 units. Full service restaurant units, which includes casual dining, mid-scale, and fine dining restaurants, decreased by 5,965 units, a -2 percent decline from the Spring 2010 ReCount."

UPDATE:

I was right. The

Raw numbers:

Total U.S.

All Restaurants  Spring 2010 - 583,500  Spring 2011 - 547, 050

Chains                 Spring 2010 - 267,958  Spring 2011 - 267,158

Independents      Spring 2010 - 315,452  Spring 2011 - 306,892 

Baltiimore

All Restaurants  Spring 2010 - 5,218       Spring 2011 - 5,234

Chains                 Spring 2010 - 2,232       Spring 2011 - 2,244

Independents      Spring 2010 - 2,986       Spring 2011 - 2,990