1 minute read
Resilient chefs
Nearly three years on from the pandemicforced closures, and despite the subsequent impact of food inflation and staff shortages, the restaurant industry has largely recovered. Data from Open Table shows that, on average, the number of seated diners at restaurants that had reopened was 3.4% higher in 2022 than in pre-pandemic 2019. Notably during the fourth quarter of 2022 seated diners were on average 7.2% higher than in the corresponding period of 2019, with several days well above 50%. While a recession would hamper discretionary consumer spending, chefs, waitstaff, and restauranters have demonstrated remarkable resilience over the last few years.
