Given all the talk, figures and news stories of an economy that, while technically out of the recession, is still pretty slow as many consumers are still out of work, restaurants, in my area anyway, seem to be doing quite well. On any given night and especially on weekends, a drive through the center of Fairfield often reveals several eateries with full parking lots and patrons walking in and out their front doors at a steady clip. A few weeks ago, my wife and I entered two restaurants before finding an open seat at a third. What does this mean? Are all of these places, which range from diner to high-end, offering five stars on the trinity of food, service and atmosphere? Have they all lowered their prices to an attractive level? Are consumers spending more as the economy shows signs of recovery? Does the area’s affluence play a factor? Perhaps it’s a combination of these factors. Having spent several years in the restaurant industry from the prosperous mid-to-late 80s to the not-so-prosperous early 90s, my feeling is that, in good times and bad, people just need to eat out, to satisfy the basic needs of nourishing the body and escaping the stress of the real world, if only for a little while.
