So Where Do Things Really Stand with Local Restaurants?
It’s hard to get a restaurant owner to admit these days that things are not quite where they’d like them to be relative to sales, new customers, growth, et al. Most, when pressed to the task, will give it the old stiff upper lip and talk about how things are “looking up”. But many local owners are prone to the doom and gloom scenario that has gripped the hospitality industry nationally. Well, the truth is, relative to other cities in the USA, things in Austin are not bad at all and may well be looking up. I don’t want to get biblical here, but this too shall pass.
Yes, some restaurants have been forced into changes that they may not have contemplated a year earlier: like the elegant Bellagio downsizing and converting to a kind of Italian-food-meets-sports-bar concept called My Place. And others that perhaps three years ago would have flourished have instead perished: places like Taste Select Wines, Dona Emilia’s, Gypsy, Yu Sushi Izagaya, Ms. B’s, Yume, Nunnzia, Senorita’s, Segovia and several others.
But the closing of some restaurants does not in and of itself mean that things have hit rock bottom. Restaurants close both in good times and bad. At best, the restaurant industry is highly competitive with narrow margins. Yet, there have been many new openings this year: like David’s Garrido’s upscale taqueria and the NYC-styled Mulberry’s next door. Justine’s is packing them in over in East Austin and Peche on 4th St. has taught folks how cool an upscale cocktail (Absinthe) can be. Mizu has opened to huge crowds out on 620 in Lakeway. Corvina Pizzeria has been a big hit out in Round Rock while the Grill at Rough Hollow in Lakeway is packing them in. Frank, a new hot dog concept is doing well on Colorado at 4th.
To put it simply, I think the Austin restaurants that are riding out these current more difficult times are delivering a product that people want at what could be considered a fair price. And as always, they are creating the perception of VALUE for their customers. Yes, times are tougher, but people are still going out to eat. Austin is in much better economic condition than virtually any major city in the country and the two-year outlook is rosy.
