Talking Points

Is the Recession Over for San Francisco Restaurants?

By Jonathan Kauffman Mon., Feb. 6 2012 at 9:14 AM
Categories: Talking Points
Nopa_Crowd.jpg
Thomas Hawk/Flickr
Full tables, full bellies.
The national unemployment figures may be dropping at the speed of glacier erosion. But in one segment of the San Francisco economy, at least, the recession may be over. The Bay Area restaurant industry's sales figures are returning to their pre-2008 levels, the Chronicle reported late last week. And this after a drop of 40 percent in 2008, and a restaurant closure rate double the nation's average. 

Looks like Healthy SF and the minimum-wage spike aren't holding back the recovery, as some had predicted. Not only has tourism been back on the rise, fourth-quarter reports from 2011 reveal that customers are eating more -- and restaurants are hiring more staff. "We may actually be better off than the rest of the nation," Golden Gate Restaurant Association director Rob Black told reporter Stacey Finz.

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