OLYPHANT, Pa. — The new analysis by ZenReach shows that foot traffic in restaurants is up since the start of the year.
“The recovery rate is quite positive, so since January of this year, we’re seeing a 57 percent increase to bars and restaurants across the country, which is indicative that things are starting to return to normal," said Megan Wintersteen of ZenReach.
Researchers call it promising news for the industry that was hit so hard during the health crisis.
They found that takeout, which has been hugely popular during the past year and a half, is still booming, but it seems more and more diners want to eat inside restaurants again.
“It really feels as though when the mask mandate was lifted, that’s when you really started to see the really sharp spikes, especially in terms of the dining experience," said Wintersteen.
The recent report is good news, but analysts said there is still plenty of room for improvement in the restaurant industry and serious concerns about COVID-19 variants hurting it again.
One thing they found is that people seem to be supporting locally-owned bars and restaurants the most.
“While the traffic level is lifting overall, small businesses are also outperforming the larger businesses, so we feel like that’s also a really great trend to see because people are investing in the areas that were hit the hardest.”