Sales manager: Last year the total number of meals sold in our company

Sales manager: Last year the total number of meals sold in our company restaurants was much higher than it was the year before. Obviously consumers find our meals desirable.
Accountant: If you look at individual restaurants, however, you find that the number of meals sold actually decreased substantially at every one of our restaurants that was in operation both last year and the year before. The desirability of our meals to consumers has clearly decreased, given that this group of restaurants---the only ones for which we have sales figures that permit a comparison between last year and the year before---demonstrates a trend toward fewer sales.

If the sales figures cited by the accountant and the sales manager are both accurate, which one of the following must be true?

(A) The company opened at least one new restaurant in the last two years.
(B) The company’s meals are less competitive than they once were.
(C) The quality of the company’s meals has not improved over the last two years.
(D) The prices of the company’s meals have changed over the past two years.
(E) The market share captured by the company’s restaurants fell last year.

The argument does not speak about Competition or Quaility or prices or market share. Option B,C,D and E are clearly out Option A is correct because as the company observes that the sales decrease year by year and only this restaurant has the sales greater then the other restaurantes that means that the restaurant is new and will see the decrease in the sales next year onwards.

GMATNinja can you please give explanation for this question.

Dear AakankshaArora

from stimulus


Last year TOTAL number of sold meals was > then it was year before.
Yet, individually by sales dropped at every restaurants that was in operation both last year and the year before

How total number can be increased but individually by each restaurant decreased?
Total sales are 100pcs in 2020Y, and 2 restaurants sold 50 meals each.
Total sales are 110 pcs 2021Y, and 2 restaurants sales dropped by 25 meals each
How to make total 110 if 2 restaurants sales were 50 meals ? The difference 60 meals comes from at least one NEW restaurant that did not fall under the conditions was in operation both last year and the year before

Sales manager: Last year the total number of meals sold in our company restaurants was much higher than it was the year before. Obviously, consumers find our meals desirable.
Accountant: If you look at individual restaurants, however, you find that the number of meals sold actually decreased substantially at every one of our restaurants that was in operation both last year and the year before. The desirability of our meals to consumers has clearly decreased, given that this group of restaurants---the only ones for which we have sales figures that permit a comparison between last year and the year before---demonstrates a trend toward fewer sales.

If the sales figures cited by the accountant and the sales manager are both accurate, which one of the following must be true?

(A) The company opened at least one new restaurant in the last two years.
(B) The company's meals are less competitive than they once were.
(C) The quality of the company's meals has not improved over the last two years.
(D) The prices of the company's meals have changed over the past two years.
(E) The market share captured by the company's restaurants fell last year.
All except A are dealing in factors that are not discussed in the passage. More importantly none of those factors affect the passage at all because of which they can't be inferred.
The only way such a difference to exist is possible if the restaurants in focus differ in number between sales manager's and that of accountant's.
A elaborates perfectly why that might have been possible.

Answer A.