Restaurants in deep-blue cities starved for diners while Florida is feasting
Global restaurant industry data from OpenTable shows that cities such as Minneapolis, San Francisco and Seattle are struggling to recover from the pandemic. Florida cities are booming.
Establishments in deep-blue cities that faced both excessive COVID-19 restrictions plus violent protests in 2020 are starved for diners, according to global data.
The same source shows that Sun Belt boomtowns in Florida, Texas and Arizona are busier than ever and enjoying a massive surge in restaurant business this year.
The divide between the two is startling.
The number of daily diners in the city of Minneapolis was down an average of 54.3% in July — so the city had less than half the number of people eating out, compared with July 2019, according to OpenTable.
It’s the worst recovery of any city in the world tracked by the restaurant reservation service.