Charleston Restaurant Report JANUARY 2023
ON THE MENU
1. Local Restaurant Scene -- OPENING A RESTAURANT IN CHARLESTON IS NO EASY TASK
2. Restaurant Openings, Closings + Coming Soon!
3. National Restaurant Scene – LOOK AHEAD TO 2023 RESTAURANT TRENDS
4. Food For Thought -- RESTAURANT CLOSINGS NORMALIZING
LOCAL RESTAURANT SCENE
OPENING A RESTAURANT IN CHARLESTON IS NO EASY TASK
The Post & Courier opened the lid on some of the issues facing restaurant businesses trying to open a new spot in the city. The task includes a minefield of obstacles with no clear path forward to the finish line. The process involves multiple city departments, multiple outside agencies, along with a slew of contractors, vendors and suppliers all on their own schedules with their own priorities. Each regulatory hurdle, if not properly crossed, can add weeks if not months of time to the opening schedule. Having opened restaurants in multiple cities across five states, I can attest to the difficulty operators face when the rules of the game are not clear. Every day counts when you have a team of employees waiting to go to work, cash flow draining by the hour to contractors + vendors, and a looming rent commencement deadline.
Considering the quantity of new restaurants that open in the city each year, perhaps the city's business services department would consider assigning staff members to walk restaurant business owners through the regulatory process, step-by-step, and actively advocate for them across multiple departments, agencies, and utilities. Read the article in the Post & Courier here....
RESTAURANT OPENINGS, CLOSINGS + COMING SOON!
Openings + Closings list reflects 4th Quarter 2022 market activity (October - December):
OPENINGS --
Azul (Downtown — former Sol Southwest Kitchen)
Belle Station (Mount Pleasant — former Locals Seafood & Raw Bar)
Benny Rinaldi’s (North Charleston)
Chick-fil-a (Summerville)
Cookie Dough Bliss & Creamery (West Ashley)
El Callao (North Charleston — former Cuban Gypsy Pantry)
El Pollo Guapo (James island — former Black Magic Cafe)
Firehouse Subs (North Charleston)
Great Greek Mediterranean Grill (Mount Pleasant)
Huey Magoo’s Chicken Tenders (North Charleston — former Hardee’s)
Huriyali (West Ashley)
Iron Rose Bar & Restaurant (Downtown)
Konnichiwa (West Ashley — former A1China Super Buffet)
La Rustica (Summerville)
Nigel’s Good Food (Hanahan)
Pisco Mar (Downtown)
Ruby’s New York Style Bagels (Mount Pleasant — former Chicken Salad Chick)
Sommba Cocina & Cellar (Mount Pleasant — former Bull & Finch)
Sticky Fingers (North Charleston)
Sweet Grass Vodka Distillery (Downtown)
The Quinte Oyster House (Downtown)
Welton’s Tiny Bakeshop (Downtown — former 26 Devine)
Wisconsin Meat & Cheese (James Island)
CLOSINGS --
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream (Isle of Palms)
Caroline’s Aloha Bar (West Ashley)
Groucho’s (Downtown)
Hello Deli (North Charleston)
Ladles (West Ashley)
Nana’s Uptown (Downtown)
Philly’s Cheesesteak (Summerville)
Taziki’s (Mount Pleasant)
The Red Pepper (Summerville)
COMING SOON --
The number of publicly-announced F&B projects on the Coming Soon list -- coming to market in the near future was in the mid-60's in the 4th quarter 2022.
NATIONAL RESTAURANT SCENE
LOOK AHEAD TO 2023 RESTAURANT TRENDS
A recent article in Nations Restaurant News gives an interesting look ahead at what operators should expect to see in 2023. After a tumultuous 2+ Covid years, the post-covid environment should bring more stability to operations as pricing and staffing pressures ease. Take a look at NRN's national trends for 2023 here...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
RESTAURANT CLOSINGS NORMALIZING
From 2010-2020, there were typically about 10 restaurant closings in our market each quarter. For the last 2 years during Covid, the number of restaurant closings was unusually depressed down to just a trickle each quarter while PPP and EIDL funds most likely propped up otherwise unstable operations. However, over the last two quarters, the closings seemed to have normalized. With government subsidies depleted, one would expect to see more unstable restaurants close in the face of sustained inflation, higher wages, increasing competition and a fickle employee base.