The 15 busiest full-service restaurants in Orange County cooked up a 4% gain in meals served last year to 5.7 million compared with those served by the top 15 eateries on last year’s Business Journal list. In the past 12 months, the 15 restaurants cut employment by 3%, or by 62 people, to 1,923, vs. those on last year’s list.
This year’s list saw a number of changes as new restaurants opened up and others fell off the list. One big newcomer is No. 5 Yard House, which served 465,738 meals in 2000, its first full year of operations in OC.
Compared with their own numbers a year ago, the 15 restaurants saw their meals served surge 9%,thanks in large part to Yard House. Taking the Yard House out of the mix, the other 14 restaurants served 5.2 million meals last year, up 2% from 1999.
But OC restaurants are showing some signs of slowing as more eateries have opened and taken business from established sites.
The competition took a 27% bite out of Tutto Mare’s business, and the Newport Beach restaurant dropped off the list from No. 11 the year before. The 12-year-old restaurant, which also lost 17% of its staff as a result, attributes the slowdown in sales to the opening of more than a dozen nearby restaurants including Roy’s of Newport Beach, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar and Cowboy Restaurant and Bar.
“We are still holding our own and we still are busy,” said General Manager Stefano Albano. But, he added, hour-long waits for tables on weekends are a thing of the past.
To be sure, restaurant sales showed slower growth last year amid the dot-com dropout, rising energy prices and waning consumer confidence. Several factors are likely to further impact restaurants this year, including the minimum wage increase from $5.75 to $6.25 that took effect in January and a jump to $6.75 set to kick in next year.
On the bright side, restaurants are likely to benefit from new California standardized health inspections and clarifications of the manager-exempt rules for employee overtime. The tight labor market has constrained growth this past year for some companies.
At UCLA Extension’s recent California Restaurant Industry Conference, industry experts predicted a slowdown this year. Still, the sector is likely to post its 10th straight year of sales growth, pegged at 2% to 3% over 2000. Industry watchers expect an aging baby boomer population to boost sales at full service restaurants, while the growth of the casual dining segment is expected to experience the biggest growth.
California restaurants may fair better. According to data supplied by the California and National Restaurant associations, Golden State restaurant sales are projected to grow by 5.2% this year to $39.6 billion. OC restaurants represent about 10% of the industry’s statewide revenue.
“We will see some pull back and slowdown,” said Mark Husson, food industry analyst for Merrill Lynch. “But it’s not like we are going to go back to the 1950s of Ozzie and Harriet where people stay home and cook. Cooking is a lost and dying, if not dead, art. You really don’t see people going backward and cooking at home.”
Several OC restaurants reported sales growth that beat the average growth last year for California restaurants.
The Cheesecake Factory in Newport Beach, which opened in 1993, ranked first for the sixth year in a row with 748,000 meals served, a 10% increase from 1999. It debuted on the list at No. 5 in 1994, but knocked off the former Planet Hollywood location the following year.
Sam Woo Seafood Restaurant declined to report meals for last year, but a Business Journal estimate ranks it second with 547,500 meals served. The Chinese-style restaurant replaced Rainforest Caf & #233; in Costa Mesa, where sales have declined about 10% based on a Business Journal estimate and company reports.
Las Brisas in Laguna Beach moved down a notch to No. 10 as food sales dropped 7%. El Torito Restaurants Inc. of Long Beach, which operates Las Brisas, blames poor weather as a contributor to slower food sales and adds that total sales overall were up over the prior year.
“At Las Brisas, when the sun comes out we do a gangbuster business,” said Ira James, senior vice president of marketing for El Torito Restaurants.
Also gone from this year’s list is the Hard Rock Caf & #233; in Fashion Island, Newport Beach. The restaurant, which ranked No. 10 last year, reported sales were down 47% in terms of the number of meals it sold and staff levels dropped 41% to 65 employees. The company reports that overall sales were about even with 1999 sales, but that there’s been a shift to renting out the facility for more events, more liquor sales and employees have been cross-trained in the kitchen and on the floor, said General Manager Ryan MacAffee.
“We had a better year than the year before,” MacAffee said. “But we had a lot more liquor sales because we have bands on Friday night. That’s a big contributor.”
Moving up six notches to No. 13 is Birraporetti’s in South Coast Plaza, which showed an 8% gain to 236,000 meals. Bistango in Irvine moved up a notch to No. 11 with a 5% increase to 281,000 meals served. II Fornaio in Irvine moved up two spaces with a 7% gain to 240,000 meals served. Finally, No. 15, Bluewater Grill in Newport Beach gained two positions with a 5% gain to 228,000 meals served.
Birraporetti’s, which opened in 1986 and ranked No. 1 on the list in 1992 with 360,000 meals served, has seen its sales shrink somewhat in the past few years as new restaurants have opened up nearby.
“Considering this economy, we’ve done pretty good,” general manager David Sadler said. “Even with all the dot-coms going out of business, we still are managing to keep sales up a little over last year. Sometimes I wonder if we can continue doing that.”
Restaurant sales in the South Coast Plaza area were flat last year, with 1.8 million meals served by Birraporetti’s and the four other mall restaurants that made this year’s list.
The restaurant scene is set to shift this year with newcomers at Downtown Disney in Anaheim. The outdoor retail district, which sits at the entrance to Disney’s new California Adventure theme park, opened in February adding some of the county’s largest restaurants.
The lineup includes a second Rainforest Caf & #233;, Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, Catal, Naples Ristorante and Pizzeria, the House of Blues, La Brea Bakery, Y Arriba! Y Arriba! and ESPN Zone. n
