POS+ Releases April 2026 Restaurant Sales Trends in Japan: Sales Reach 100.2% Year on Year, Credit Cards Take Top Payment Ranking for First Time

Postas Co., Ltd. released its April 2026 restaurant sales trend report based on POS data from restaurants using its cloud-based mobile POS register service, POS+. Overall restaurant sales in April stood at 100.2% of the previous year, down 0.5 percentage points from the prior month but still showing positive year-on-year growth. By area, the regional average year-on-year sales growth rate was 99.2%, down 3.3 percentage points from the previous month. Shikoku recorded the highest regional growth, reaching 101.5% of the previous year. By business type and time slot, izakaya had the highest share of dinner-time sales, followed by specialty cuisine, with a gap of 12.7 percentage points. For lunch-time sales, light meals ranked highest, followed by meal-focused restaurants, with a gap of 2.0 percentage points. The nationwide cashless payment ratio reached 56.6%, up 0.9 percentage points from the previous month. Kanto had the highest cashless ratio at 64.8%, up 0.6 percentage points. By business type, all categories exceeded a 40% cashless payment ratio. Meal-focused restaurants, light meals, and takeout businesses each recorded code payment ratios above 10%. Among all 28 restaurant genres, 22 had cashless payment ratios above 50%. Teppanyaki recorded the highest ratio at 77.9%, while ramen was the lowest at 34.6%, a gap of 43.3 percentage points, indicating a large difference in adoption by genre. From March to April, the cashless payment ratio increased across all business types. Looking by payment method, the credit card payment ratio also increased across every business type. In the nationwide payment method ranking, tracked since February 2023, credit cards took first place for the first time at 44.9%, followed by cash at 43.4%, a difference of 1.5 percentage points. Within cashless payments, credit cards accounted for 79.3%, followed by code payments at 15.0%. Postas said it will continue to actively publish information on changes and realities in the restaurant business environment and consider and propose support measures, aiming to realize its mission: “Together, creating the next step beyond hospitality.” Since launching its service in May 2013, Postas has provided comprehensive solutions centered on POS+, a cloud-based mobile POS register service tailored to restaurants, retail, beauty salons, and clinics. Its offerings include POS registers, self-checkout and ticket machines, ordering systems, and multi-store management systems, supporting automation, labor saving, operational efficiency, and improved customer experience.