Richmond restaurants send social media SOS
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Some Richmond restaurant owners are turning to social media to ask locals for support as they struggle with rising costs and sluggish sales.
Why it matters: The pleas are helping fill tables in the short term, but the posts suggest local restaurants need a long-term solution.
State of play: In recent weeks, multiple local restaurants — including Gold Lion Community Cafe, Cobra Burger, Fat Rabbit bakery and Smashed RVA — have posted candid messages asking locals for more business.
- "This is our hail mary, as we are seeing over a 50% decrease in sales this June," Gold Lion in Manchester wrote last month, adding that the drop in sales coincided with an increase in food and energy costs and a looming rent hike.
- "We need ya. Shit is brutal out here right now," Union Hill bakery Fat Rabbit wrote last week.
- "At this rate I don't know how much longer we can keep the burgs walking out the door," Cobra Burger in Church Hill posted over Memorial Day weekend.
A half dozen other local restaurants echoed their concerns in the comments, saying they're seeing a similar slump in their own dining rooms.
Threat level: Summer is traditionally slow for restaurants, but rising labor and food costs are making the season even tougher.
- Since 2019, the average restaurant's expenses have risen 36%, per a new report from the National Restaurant Association.
- To maintain pre-pandemic profit margins — which for the average restaurant were around 5% — restaurants would have to raise prices by the same 36%.
Yes, but: Last year, independent restaurant owners hit a price ceiling, Axios' Kelly Tyko reported from an industry survey, which found that many diners responded by skipping second drinks or sharing desserts.
- And some may be skipping restaurants altogether. As of May, customer foot traffic had been down in 15 of the previous 16 months, per a separate National Restaurant Association report.
Zoom in: Back in Richmond, restaurants are experimenting with everything from discounts to menu tweaks.
- Eazzy Burger, among the first local restaurants to publicly sound the alarm, has added a half-off burger night on Thursdays.
- Northside burger joint Smashed is crowdsourcing customer feedback.
- Cobra Burger said it'll save its loud metal/punk/hardcore playlist for later in the day and is searching for acceptable gluten-free buns.
- Fat Rabbit expanded its hours and, along with Smashed, is doing its version of Hot Tomato Summer next week, a nod to the local summertime dining promotion that Duke's Mayo abruptly ended this year.
What we're watching: Local restaurants' pleas for help seem to be working, at least for now. Most are followed by an outpouring of patronage and sellouts, per the posts.
- But it's unclear how long Richmonders will keep responding, so we may be looking at some $20 burgers in our future.