Houston’s Restaurant Resurgence Points to Economic Recovery

A post by John Brannen in the Kinder Institute for Urban Research’s Urban Edge points to Houston’s rapidly rebounding restaurant scene as a sign of the city’s economic resurgence. Despite the city’s reputation as an oil and gas hub, Brannen explains, jobs in that sector are recovering more slowly and face more constraints.

Meanwhile, “Houstonians dining out and the expansion of the leisure and hospitality workforce is a positive sign for the local recovery. Houston’s coveted bar and restaurant scene is a point of cultural pride, and it serves as a common third place for many residents,” in addition to being a key employment sector. “With the addition of 149,065 jobs from January-October, overall employment in Houston has grown 2.9% compared to last year, and every industry has surpassed pre-pandemic levels of employment, according to the Dallas Fed.”

After struggling during the pandemic, the industry was kept afloat in part by $28.6 billion from the federal Restaurant Revitalization Fund Program. “In late September and early October, seated diners at Houston restaurants were 19.5% higher than the same period before the pandemic in 2019, according to the OpenTable restaurant and reservation platform.” Nationwide, the average did not change in the same time period, Brannen notes.