US restaurant industry holds firm

The effects of 11 September on the US restaurant industry have been over-hyped, the Restaurant 2001 conference heard today.

Professor Chris Muller of the University of Central Florida, speaking to delegates in London via a video-conferencing link, said that things in the inudstry were not as bad as they were being made out.

He said that although 87,000 jobs within the US tourism industry had been lost as a direct result of the events of 11 September, this was not a significant number when compared with the figure of 11 million people who work in the industry.

"This is not going to close down the industry by any stretch of the imagination," he said.

Muller added that the restaurants that relied on tourists had been hit hard by the events but said neighbourhood restaurants had seen an increase in business. "People go to restaurants to get over this," he said.

He added that restaurant sales in the USA were now either holding their own or increasing and that the industry as a whole was "pretending things are worse than they really are."