Despite the economic pressure on the U.S. restaurant industry created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of new restaurant and food business openings is inline with 2018 and 2019, according to recently released data from Yelp Inc.
The Yelp Economic Average (YEA) report, which benchmarks local economic strength in the U.S., discovered that new restaurant openings in Q3 2020 were only down 10% compared to Q3 2019.
April 2020 marked a significant decrease in new openings, but they began to rebound in May 2020, with 29% average monthly increase of new restaurant openings from May to July.
New restaurant openings were relatively flat in August and September, with roughly 6,600 new restaurants opening each month. However, only 100 fewer new restaurants opened in September of this year compared to September 2019.
“Restaurants in particular have been tested in the last six months, but we’re now seeing new restaurant and food business openings align with opening rates from previous years,” Justin Norman, Yelp’s vice president of data science. “In what at times seems like a never-ending stream of challenges for business owners, it’s encouraging to uncover these bright spots in the local economy.”
Compared to Q3 2019, Yelp observed an increase in brand new openings in Q3 2020, nationally, for open air food services including: farmers markets (211 openings) and food trucks (1,734 openings).
Additionally, pop-up restaurants (100 openings) and seafood markets (84 openings) experienced an increase in openings compared to the same period in 2019, catering to consumers’ interests in novel ways to dine and shop for food outside of traditional restaurant experiences.
Yelp data also indicates that openings increased for food businesses specializing in celebratory treats that are often enjoyed at home or purchased as gifts, including cupcakes (494 openings), custom cakes (512 openings), and desserts (1,615 openings).
States that showed the most resilient third quarter for restaurant and food-related business openings include North Dakota, Washington D.C., Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Wyoming – all with at least 2X the openings in Q3 compared to the previous quarter.
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