"At Technomic, overall we do see things trending upwards," Donna Hood Crecca, senior director of Adult Beverage Resource Group at Technomic, recently told WSD. "We've revised our forecast for 2012 and we're looking for total on-premise to be up about 4.4% in consumer spending, which is really good." However, the overall message is "cautious optimism" as negative factors including unemployment and gas prices are taking a toll on consumer confidence.