SXSW: Not So Kind to Fine Dining Restaurants?
Much is made over the millions of dollars that SXSW brings into the Austin economy each month. But an informal poll we conducted with owners/chefs at fine dining restaurants revealed a segment of the Austin economy that was not blessed with the magic dust that SXSW seems to spread around each year.
Most high-end restaurant folks we spoke to say their business was down during the week: some by as much as 40-50%. This was particularly the case when the film and interactive events closed and the bands took over the city.
It’s not hard to understand why. Access to many downtown restaurants was limited due to the sheer scope of the musical events going on. And many of the fine-dining restaurants did not stay open late enough for the revelers who developed appetites around 1am. “If we had stayed open to 3am each night it might have worked for us, but that’s just not practical,” said Will Packwood of Cibo, an Italian restaurant on Congress. Rick Dietrich of Vin Bistro was another who noticed a downturn during the week. And those sentiments were echoed by many other restaurateurs.
I can relate. On Friday afternoon of the festival, I attempted to make my way back from Scholz’s to my office on S. Congress. Downtown was a complete zoo. It took me over an hour to go about a mile.
A number of the fine dining places also complained that they didn’t see any of their regular customers for the entire length of the festival. As we all know, regular patrons are the life’s breath of a fine dining restaurant.
Far be it from me to criticize the whole uber-music thing but perhaps it would be wise to scale things down a bit. I mean, 1700 bands? How would it be humanly possible to see even a fraction of those? And what about the urban sprawl that all that humanity creates? I love music and my daughter and I play regularly around town. But the sheer size of SXSW seems a bit counterproductive. When one component of the local economy suffers while others print money, is that not incompatible with the “great for the whole city” goals of the festival? Just my opinion but I’m sticking to it.
