First Quarter Was Brutal On Massachusetts Restaurants

MASSACHUSETTS — Revenue at Massachusetts restaurants was 21 percent lower in the first quarter ended March 31 than it was in fourth quarter, according to data released this week by the state Department of Revenue.

Year-over-year, first quarter restaurant revenue fell 35 percent from the first quarter of 2020. The biggest year-over-year declines were in cities where restaurants depend on office workers: Boston and Cambridge, for example, saw revenue drops of about two-thirds.

When comparing the first quarter revenue to the fourth quarter of 2019, which was the last quarter before pandemic restrictions were placed on businesses, some of the biggest declines were on Cape Cod. Oak Bluffs, for example, saw an 88 percent decline between the two fiscal periods, while Wellfleet saw an 84 percent decline. Those declines were bigger in part because many Cape restaurants closed for the slow winter months of January, February and March.

"What you’re seeing is the hibernation effect," Bob Luz, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, told the Boston Business Journal. "We’ve always said we thought that by the end of April we’d reach the other side."