Diners kept Atlanta restaurants busy this past quarter.

In a survey of nearly 100 non-franchised restaurants conducted by the firm NetFinancials, sales volumes in the third quarter climbed 1.97% over the same period in 2018. And for the year, sales among local restaurants were up 3.5%, with 70% of those surveyed reporting positive sales.

Total sales so far this year tallied $245M, with 510 new restaurants opening, according to FoodService Resource Associates.

“Q3 2019 was the largest increase in Q3 sales since 2014,” NetFinancials President Lori Johnson said in a release.

Atlanta restaurant sales are rising as the rest of the country's are falling. Restaurant revenues declined by less than a percent, but it was the first time in two years that the third quarter posted a loss in sales for restaurants across the nation, according to TDn2K's Black Box Intelligence report. The report noted that sales of restaurants in the Southeast increased by 1.5%, while the rest of the nation dropped by 3.5% in the third quarter.