Worcester Business Journal

12 Worcester Business Journal | December 11, 2017 | wbjournal.com Restaurants respond to time, cost pressures as lunch crowd shrinks Staying in for lunch P H O T O S / M A T T W R I G H T BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor M ore than ever before, Christine Griffin brings lunch from home to her job as a paralegal at the Worcester law firm Bowditch & Dewey. "When I'm trying to tighten up my budget, that's the first that goes," Griffin, a Bowditch employee for more than 20 years, said of dining out for lunch. Other workers are in the same situa- tion, and so many are pressed for time during their work day that last year, people took 433 million fewer trips to restaurants than in the prior year, according to the New York-based mar- ket research firm NPD Group. That 2-percent decline led to an estimated $3.2 billion in lost sales. It isn't only people are crunched for time during the work day. More people than ever aren't out at the office at all. The rate of people who work primar- ily from home rose to 24 percent in 2015, up from 21 percent in 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Others work flexible sched- ules, meaning they're not necessarily looking to head out of the office around noon to eat. From a financial standpoint, grocery prices rose only by 0.4 percent in a 12-month period ending in September, while food bought at dining establish- ments rose by 2.4 percent, BLS said. Those trends have been felt across the country, including downtown Worcester. Deadhorse hill, an upscale restaurant on Main Street opened in 2016, thought it would have a steady lunch traffic thanks to nearby offices. "Coffee and lunch has not been the slam dunk we thought it would," said deadhorse Co-owner Jared Forman. The restaurant expected dinner to be struggling once workers went home, but instead, Forman added, "We have found dinner to be booming." Providing the right value Lunch is not a reliable source of reve- nue for Worcester restaurant firm Niche Hospitality Group, which owns Mezcal Tequila Cantina, The Fix Burger Bar, Railers Sports Tavern and four others. "Lunch is hit or miss," said Niche Owner Michael Covino. "I'd say it's more of a decline than an incline." Costs for restaurants are always Lunch patrons at Bertucci's in Framingham. Northborough-based Bertucci's has developed new specials to entice the business lunch crowd, such as a guarantee food will be ready quickly. Food costs, dining out vs. making your own Looking monthly at how food prices had changes for the three months prior, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the cost of dining out has steadily increased while buying and preparing your own food has increased at a slower pace and even decreased in certain months. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 0 1% 2% 3% 2007 -1% -1.5% '09 '11 '13 '08 '10 '12 '14 '15 '16 '17 Food at home Food away from home F O C U S F O O D & D R I N K

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