Las Vegas Review-Journal: Less appetite for dining out

[marmar]

Less appetite for dining out

Taxable sales in Clark County restaurants fall in three of past 12 months, data show

By JENNIFER ROBISON
REVIEW-JOURNAL


For more than 20 years, the Pasta Shop & Ristorante has lured in Las Vegans hungry for the Italian specialties it serves out of its East Tropicana Avenue eatery.

But the Pasta Shop sees fewer local takers today for its baked rigatoni, saffron shrimp and chicken parmesan, as local businesses and consumers slash expense accounts and snap shut their wallets in response to rising unemployment and falling home prices.

David Alenik, owner of the Pasta Shop, said the past eight months have brought the restaurant a "fairly significant" downturn in the number of businesspeople -- especially professionals in real estate and construction -- bringing in clients for lunch. Local families who used to visit once or twice a week now stop by perhaps once or twice a month, he said. And the Pasta Shop's wholesale business, which serves the resort sector, is off about 15 percent, as hotel-casinos grapple with tightened consumer spending, he said.

Still, the Pasta Shop's overall sales are up about 8 percent from a year ago, thanks to mentions in the Zagat Survey of restaurants and the city's first Michelin Guide to eateries. The publicity, combined with the restaurant's proximity to the Strip, has boosted tourist traffic, and that gain has outweighed losses on the local side, Alenik said.

Numbers from the Nevada Department of Taxation show many of Alenik's competitors aren't faring so well.

Taxable sales among restaurants in Clark County have fallen three of the past 12 months, including a 10.3 percent drop in February year over year. From the start of the fiscal year on July 1 through February, taxable sales inside the county's 3,000 restaurants decreased 1.6 percent, from $4 billion a year earlier to $3.95 billion.

The state doesn't track sales on the Strip separately from sales throughout the rest of Clark County, but resort operators' first-quarter results suggest slower food-and-beverage sales inside hotel-casinos.

MGM Mirage, which operates 10 resorts on the Strip and properties in New Jersey and on the Gulf Coast, reported food-and-beverage revenue of $417.4 million in the first quarter, down 4 percent from $402.4 million in the same quarter of 2007. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.lvrj.com/business/18758754.html

[Richard Steele]

1. Our appetites are the same; our $$$ are all disappearing at the gas Pumps and Grocery Stores. nm