Sales at U.S. bars and restaurants reached an all-time high of USD 67.3 billion (EUR 56 billion) in May, according to new government data.
The U.S. Census Bureau found that restaurant and bar sales surged for the third month in a row, per MarketWatch.
In addition, restaurant sales from the week ending on 30 May were the best results for Black Box Intelligence’s index in six weeks, Restaurant Business reported.
“Sales at restaurants and bars continued to benefit from the warmer weather and looser business restrictions,” Economist Lydia Boussour with Oxford Economics told MarketWatch.
The increase in overall sales also reflects higher prices on restaurant menus – when inflation is taken into account, restaurant sales are still about 3 percent lower than their pre-pandemic peak, according to MarketWatch.
Sales had reached a previous high of USD 66.3 billion (EUR 56 billion) in January 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. Then, sales dropped by 55 percent to a low of less than USD 30 billion (EUR 25 billion) in April 2020, when most of the country was locked down, according to MarketWatch.
Additionally, restaurant reservations exceeded pre-COVID-19 levels for the first time in May, research from OpenTable shows.
Photo courtesy of David Tadevosian/Shutterstock
