Can we learn something from restaurant demand?

Restaurant demand has strengthened considerably after a choppy 2024. Monthly seated diners across major U.S. cities has increased by over 5% in every month since November of 2024.

Of course, there are winners and losers: Brooklyn, Houston, Tampa, San Francisco, San Diego, Minneapolis and Dallas have all seen significant increases while Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, and New Orleans have all slumped. Although it might seem strange to see popular tourism destinations like Las Vegas and New Orleans lumped in with Kansas City and Pittsburgh, these trends do comport with weakness in the Las Vegas Strip gaming market and regional markets in Missouri, Kansas and Pennsylvania.

The good news is that people still like eating out and apparently can still afford to. A cautionary note, that spending might be close to home.