Already in the middle of a customer slowdown that is cyclical with each fall season, restaurant managers such as Will Savage are starting to see more empty tables, fewer customers and, for members of the wait staff, unusually small tips.
Savage, general manager of Red, Hot & Blue on the corner of Hillsborough Street and Oberlin Road, said business has been slow since the summer despite a trend that dictates more customers frequent restaurants because “it’s warm, and people don’t mind being outside.”
“It never really got busy once it got warm,” Savage said. “That’s how we can tell it’s because of the economy and not because of the weather.”
He said although business usually dips down during the fall, Red, Hot & Blue sales have been lower this month then they were last October.
“As far as our sales, we have seen a decline in guests who come throughout the day,” Savage said.
The economic downturn has hit downtown restaurants as well, according to Alfie Lontoc, a Sushi Blues manager.
“Business isn’t as busy as it was, but it’s slowing down everywhere. … Business overall isn’t good, but it’s not that bad.” Lontoc said. “This restaurant, compared to other ones, hasn’t been affected that much.”
Sushi Blues hosts half-priced sushi on Tuesday and Thursday nights as it has before the downturn, but Savage said Red, Hot & Blue has added specials to its menu specifically geared toward college students in an attempt to “keep people coming through the doors and keep money coming in for the establishment.”
Although meals at discounted prices bring in less of a margin of profit for the establishment, Savage said, “people coming in and spending a little bit of money is better than people not coming in and not spending any money.”
And though Savage said the efforts have worked, wait staff member Christina Kennedy said she has seen fewer student customers.
“The only people who come out have been for birthdays,” Kennedy, a senior in political science, said. “That’s when they’re forced to come out for an event.”
But even the customers Red, Hot & Blue has retained have been less willing to tip their usual amounts, Kennedy said.
“I went from making about a guaranteed $30 on a weekday night to about $15 — so it’s really been cut in half,” Kennedy said. “We’ve been really, really slow for pretty much the past month, but even if people do come out they’re not tipping very well because they don’t have the money.”
Kennedy, who started work in August, said she waited about five tables in her one- to two-hour shifts when she first started work, but that the amount of customers has been declining since before August.
“Some nights I’m only there an hour or two and I am only getting two tables and then going home” she said.
Due to both a decrease in her net wages and a higher cost of living, Kennedy said she has stopped going out to eat.
“I haven’t been out to eat in a while because I can’t afford it,” Kennedy, who also owns and cares for two horses, said. “My money goes really toward feeding my horses and gas, and I don’t have a lot of spending money for fun. When the economy was better, I used to have some extra money to go out to eat or at least be able to cook a nice dinner. Now I don’t have that.
Both Lontoc and Savage said they expect business to pick back up toward the end of November, when families start heading out to eat for holidays such as Thanksgiving.
Although Lontoc said he expects Sushi Blues to be business as usual at the end of the year, Savage said he thinks “it will pick up, but not to the level it has in the past.”
