NPD's ResCount study reports a .7 percent increase compared to last year.
The total number of U.S. restaurants grew by .7 percent to 616,008, according the NPD Group's Fall 2012 ReCount, which is a count of commercial restaurant locations in the United States compiled in the spring and fall each year.

The study, which includes restaurants open as of Sept. 30, 2012, shows that the quick service restaurant segment experienced a 1 percent increase in units or 4,037 of the 4,442 that were added.

Full service restaurant units, which include casual dining, midscale/family dining, and fine dining restaurants, remained relatively stable, growing to 276,238, or a 1.1 percent increase compared to last year's count. Independent restaurant units remained stable at a total count of 339,770, a slight increase of .4 percent, which is the second consecutive increase for independents since 2009, reports NPD.

According to The NPD Group's CREST, which tracks consumer use of commercial and non-commercial foodservice outlets daily, total restaurant traffic was up 1 percent for the year ending November 2012 compared to the same period last year. U.S. consumers made 60 billion restaurant visits during the period.

Numbers for July are available here.