Lunch transactions still down in San Francisco Bay Area

What's happening: Lunch transactions in the Bay Area in May were down an average of 22% from 2019, according to Toast's latest restaurant trends report.

• In the NYC area, lunch transactions were down 23%, while the Kansas City area, for example, saw a 3% increase in lunch transactions.
• Of note: Toast's data looked at weekday transactions on its platform from a cohort of restaurants on its platform. Toast does not have access to data from restaurants that don't use its platform.

Between the lines: Remote work is still taking a toll on San Francisco's economy. Office attendance as of May 1 was between 40%-45% of attendance during the "normal times" of February 2020, according to the city's latest economic report.

• Yes, but: Both Muni and BART ridership to downtown trended up in May and has improved since the start of the year.

What to watch: San Francisco is experimenting with various efforts to rethink its downtown neighborhoods — including, most notably, office-to-residential building conversions, which are poised to skyrocket in the coming years.