Boston and Connecticut restaurants were hit hard by this month's blizzard, called Nemo, that blew through the area during the weekend of Feb. 8-10.
According to new data from analytics and information provider Restaurant Sciences, Boston and Hartford, Conn., restaurant sales were down by 33.08 and 36.22 percent respectively during the blizzard week versus the week prior.
During the actual weekend of the storm, restaurant sales were down 72.56 percent in Boston and 77.02 percent in Hartford. Overall, Northeast restaurants were down 12.67 percent in sales for the week of Feb. 7-Feb. 13 and down 23.16 percent the weekend of the storm, Feb. 8-10.
"Restaurant Sciences' data shows that super storms like Nemo not only affect business during the duration of the storm, but the impact is felt well after the businesses reopen," said Chuck Ellis, president of Restaurant Sciences. "Our data shows that full-service restaurants were hit the hardest and do not recoup sales lost to major storms. That one week will negatively impact the first quarter and beyond."
"We expected super storm Nemo to negatively impact sales that weekend, but we did not anticipate the mandatory travel ban that kicked off the weekend, or that customers would remain home the week following the storm," added Richard D'Angelo, owner of The Red Parrot restaurant in Hull, Mass. "Inclement weather can impact sales slightly, but Nemo hurt our business significantly."
Restaurant Sciences sampled 8.5 million checks for this data.
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