CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Business is booming again for many restaurants after a dismal two years, but are restaurants actually bouncing back?
The answer is not so straightforward and it could impact you, as the customer.
The restaurant industry has changed dramatically in the last two years. It costs more in ways you probably haven’t thought about. The question is, are you willing to pay more to keep the restaurants open?
The doors are open, and the customers are back. But restaurant owners say things are most definitely not back to normal.
Kristen Wile runs Unpretentious Palate, which is a website that showcases Charlotte’s dining scene.
"They're changed drastically from the beginning of the pandemic to now, changed drastically," Wile said. "It's going to be a big hill for restaurants to climb to get back into the green after the pandemic and additional costs."
By now you know there are not enough people to work. You’ve heard food costs more and the supply chain is still a problem, but there are other costs most customers probably don’t know about.
WCNC Charlotte is always asking "where's the money?" If you need help, reach out to WCNC Charlotte by emailing money@wcnc.com.
"A lot of restaurants got breaks on their rent during the pandemic when they weren’t bringing in much revenue if any at all, but that wasn’t free rent it’s going to be added on later," Wile said.
And the industry realized they needed to take better care of their employees, so the pay is up. And now some restaurants are even offering benefits for the first time.
Paul Manley owns four Charlotte-area restaurants including The Waterman Fish Bar and said the new focus on wellness is a good thing, but also an expensive one.
"We provide health insurance for all our staff now, that’s a massive undertaking people don’t want to see that in the cost of their burger it’s a constant balancing act," he said.
So too is the schedule.
WCNC Charlotte is always asking "where's the money?" If you need help, reach out to WCNC Charlotte by emailing money@wcnc.com.
"It's situational," he said. "We have one restaurant only open five days a week because we don’t have staff to do the other two. We would have the business but we don’t have the ability, we have one restaurant on limited hours."
Wile said to expect to see more restaurant closures as they all try to figure out this new norm.
"We can get people in the door, but can we turn it into a profitable business is where the tough part is," Manley said.
One of the other plus sides for the food industry? When grocery stores were short on some items, people decided to shop at local farmers' markets and those markets are still booming.
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