Hungry for Service

Yelp released its report on restaurants and complaints over short-staffed restaurants up 229% in Q1 of 2022. More than 13 million diners were seated at restaurants via Yelp during Q1 2022, a rise of 48% compared to the year-ago quarter, according to Yelp’s State of the Restaurant Industry Report.

The report recorded a 23% increase in customers mentioning long wait times and a 229% increase in reviews mentioning short staffing during Q1 2022 compared to the year-ago quarter, and restaurants are continuing to change their operations to address the challenges.

Despite increased prices and slower service, interest in on-premise dining doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Searches for reservations in Q1 2022 increased 107% on Yelp compared to the year-ago quarter. Dine-in restaurant visits were up 38% during the first quarter compared to a 45% decline a year ago.

Overall this is great news for the restaurant industry, that the recovery from the pandemic, may be slow but it is happening. For those that manage to survive the worst months of the pandemic this is welcomed news, but the challenges ahead with inflation, higher costs, distribution and staff does seem to tamper some of the optimism among restaurant owners.