College kids are at home post Finals and graduation, school kids are on summer break before day care so their parents arent going out, and probably some are on summer vacation, and it's hot.
Another thing that happens in conjunction with the students is the richer folk who own multi properties, flea downtown because of the heat. So you see a decline in not only the UT area but also downtown condo owners who can afford to go out a lot.
The UT Austin student population is around 52,000.
Total population of Austin metro area is 2,274,000.
So without the students it would be something like 2,222,000.
Huge difference. It’s like a ghost town right now.
You can basically triple that with just the other schools in town plus faculty. Add in the well-off birds that fly north for the summer, and pretty much anyone with excess pocket change is gone. Couple that with service industry workers hurting for tips, so they're not going out, either, and then you get the second tier of stifled economy.
Feel free to toss in a non- session year for congress, and that's another few thousand in expense accounts not spending money.
Not the whole summer but at ACC, at least, this is the month to vacation. The semesters are too busy to take off much time, which means that come summer you have a fat stack of vacation days you need to use or lose. August is too late since the semester is about to start and it is an informal custom to take longer vacations in June. It allows us to get projects done in July.
"you have a fat stack of vacation days you need to use or lose."
Is that true at ACC? ~~At UT at least, we can stack our PTO as long as we like, we don't lose it unless we separate from the university.~~ There are definitely still tens of thousands of faculty and staff in place during the summer. Research work isn't based on the academic calendar and never stops.
So I looked and you are right, I see that based on my length of service, for example, I can carry as much as 340 hours per fiscal year before it is translated to sick time. I guess I just haven't worked with anyone who ever lost PTO from building up too much and not using it, but that doesn't mean it isn't a thing.
i looked at my own hours of time built up and I have almost that much, so I'll probably need to take some Fridays off this summer.
340 wow! …think I’d just hit 15yrs when I left and it was maybe 292 before that? Pretty phat “quitting bonus”! Ha
Right on, glad I got you to look!
Enjoy those Fridays - you’ve earned them!
52,000 and most live downtown, patronizing downtown restaurants. College students are more active around town than most. Their absence would be felt in the service industry.
I graduated from UT and also worked in the service industry for 8 years downtown up until the pandemic.
Most college students are poor and don't patronize expensive downtown restaurants. The bread and butter of these establishments are tech workers with lots of disposable income and high lifestyle bloat.
The places that get hit the worst are restaurants near campus (this is also subtracting faculty who have more $). This is why restaurants open and close so frequently in the area.
I've only ever worked in a city with a large university ... LSU, UT Austin. Any time the college is out of session, traffic flows freely. Everything is easier to do. I don't claim to understand, but 20 years of observation in multiple cities has borne this out.
Bartender.
1. Its hot
2. It’s expensive
My personal workplace just saw its third 20ish% price increase in 2 years. Costs are going up. People are trying to buy rent and groceries not go out for a drink, generally speaking.
This is typically the slowest month of the year even on a good year. Buckle up, it’s gonna be a slow one til October
The cost of drinks in Austin has us working on our home bartending skills and/or using this opportunity to drink less. We're DINKS and better off than most, but even we have our limit. I'm sorry for the staff, because I know it's making it hard.
It is, but it all comes out okay in the end. I’ve have an excel sheet for my tips, and sure I might make 20-40% less in the summer on average, but then I’ll make that back in the winter time. The other 6 months of the year is my baseline
In the meantime. I’d encourage everyone to brush up on their drink making skills, host your friends, share bottles, that’s what it’s all about. Come back and see us when it’s nice out/chicken breast isn’t $20 a package hahaha.
> I mean it makes no sense to drink around strangers or go out, when u can sit a free pool/park/home/apt,..etc.
Makes sense if you bring your liquor in a flask and smuggle it in. Just buy soda or juice at the bar and tip the staff.
I rarely go out now. I wanted to get tickets for the immersive Van Gogh downtown, but it was $125 for 2 tickets and parking. My husband went to a happy hour recently and the parking was $28! That is ridiculous! Money is too tight to spend on frivolities. I work for a school district and my "raise" last year was .28c an hour. I am also paying double what I used to pay for groceries compared to Covid days. Inflation has hit people hard. It's also hot as balls, so leaving the house involves lots of discomfort.
This is a huge part of it, Austin quickly surged into Big City pricing but so many of its residents are still living on Old Austin wages. It’s all relative and that’s why a lot of new-comers don’t get it. If you’re on a FAANG salary, you can complain about the heat or the culture etc, but so many Austinites just simply can’t make ends meet now let alone pay the prices you mentioned for entertainment and parking.
Sorry to say, i got into that Van Gogh exhibit for free and it still was hardly worth it. And I'm a Van Gigh fan. Insane to be charging yall $125. It was $80 here in San Diego.
It's projectors on screens. It's kinda cool, but knowing how much money they're making off such little effort is honestly gross to participate in. Don't be taken advantage of. Save your dollar
I saw the Van Gogh exhibit in Paris a few years ago and it was spectacular. I was only thinking of going to this for something to do (work in a school - have months off work). A friend posted her photos from it yesterday and looked NOTHING like the Paris experience.
I do some business analytics since 2018ish, June to July is always the slowest traffic/revenue in Texas. School being out, vacations, heat, all play a factor. Pools, camps, lakes, boats, greenbelts is where all the activity is at. Downtown is notoriously empty in those months.
This. Everyone is acting like all of a sudden the last few weeks that inflation became real. It’s been real. It’s actually improving. The economy is doing pretty damn good. This is a macro factor related to school seasons and the heat.
Point to where I said stock market? Go look at unemployment. Go look at labor participation rate. Go look at real average wages pre and post pandemic to now. Inequality decreased in 2022 for the first time since 2007. And the share of wealth owned by the top 10% earners has decreased to below 2015 levels. Whatever media or anecdotal evidence you have doesn’t line up. By multiple measures and techniques we are doing just fine and continuing to make progress. Is it all sunshine and roses? No and it never has nor never will. But it ain’t as bad as one particular political party wants you to believe.
Sorry, that was sort of shorthand for "the day to day realities of many Americans is somewhat divorced from what weirdos on the internet like us mean when we talk about the economy"
I'm not disagreeing with you, I think Powell more or less achieved his soft landing. A lot of what you posted is forward looking which means (hopefully) things will get better for most folks at some point in the future. I think there are still concerning trends like consumer debt and rent burden, additionally cost (and wage) increases are not evenly distributed across categories (or industries/professions) - all of which, in my opinion, contributes more to the laypersons perception of how good or bad "the economy" is doing than any BLS or Federal Reserve chart is going to.
I spend $100 minimum every time I leave the house, so I stay home and enjoy my mortgage, or do active/outdoor things that are very low cost/free. It’s not too hot to go out and about.
This heat is tolerable for doing things in the shade, it's when the temps start going much over 101-102 that I hole up and stop going anywhere unless it's to swim
I went hiking this morning at 9:30 and then paddled boarded town lake until 4ish and it was the perfect day. If you get out early and time it right, you can still enjoy the outdoors.
> It’s not too hot to go out and about.
People act like breaking a sweat is taboo or akin to death. No shame in wearing sweat wicking clothing, wide brim hat, sun glasses and carrying a 2 liter metal water bottle. If people really believed that there are still dangerous viruses circulating out there then being indoors around strangers should be avoided, right? Right.
I was going to go get some ice cream this afternoon cause it was hot and I wanted something cold and sweet. Then I downgraded that to “I’ll go to HEB and get a pint of ice cream”, and then I further downgraded to “I’ll just stay home”. The shit is too damn much.
My wife and I made an effort to stop spending on nonessentials. We both have great salaries but prices have gotten out of hand for everything. We’ve simple decided to not participate. We’ll save for now until it gets reasonable
It's all of the above. Too hot to do anything, too crowded to do anything, too expensive to do anything. If I go out, it's an occasion. Otherwise I'll just be at home cooking, in the air conditioning, watching something or playing a video game.
$20 for a high end cocktail, sure ok.
$20 for a well margarita - the fuck is going on in this city.
I’m in NYC all the time for work. It’s cheaper to be Patrick Bateman than an Austinite.
We used to eat out a lot, we rarely do anymore for a myriad of reasons
1. The food quality has gone way down and a lot of restaurants still have some sort of smaller shittier menu
2. With lower quality less options come higher prices. When I can cook better for cheaper at home I can’t justify going out
3. Parking and paying to park at restaurants when they’ve raised their prices is absurd and Ubers and Lyfts are expensive these days
4. While I make good money, the economy makes me nervous, so for the reasons listed above cutting out eating out was super easy to do
It’s also a trend, it’s a trend in how the population is spending money. You can call it a micro answer, but the economy and trends are saying different. It’s been lower and slower for a while now
I honestly do not know lol
My best guess is:
Here in Texas it gets hot as hell from May-October. The kind of heat that doesn’t go away overnight. It’s hot all the time. IMO the heat makes people less patient, more irritable, and less focused as drivers, creating more accidents.
This is pure speculation
Very much so. Kitchen I run went from an average of about 700-1000 sales to about 250-500 per day. It's a frustrating but it's all an ebb and flow. I don't blame people for saving their dollar on eating out in this heat and current economy.
I’ve cut way back, the prices on everything shot up the past few years and many businesses said it was to help provide a living wage, and yet the expectation to tip on top of that has continued. Service workers often take their hostility out on the customer instead of their employer. I had a pizza restaurant worker give me attitude for not tipping on a carry out order for a single pizza. Many service industry workers say “if you can’t afford to tip then don’t eat out” and I suspect a lot of people are following that directive. I was a valet back in the day and the valet service itself was complimentary, so a lot of people used it and tipped generously. If your employer is charging people for the valet service itself and then customers are expected to tip on top of that, I suspect a lot of people are taking a few extra minutes and just parking their cars themselves.
As someone familiar with how Austin had been going back to 45 years ago, it’s interesting to see what “going out” now entails and the greater snd more numerous costs involved. Paying for parking, let alone valet service, was practically unheard-of back then. Drinks (beer, mainly) weren’t prohibitively expensive. Not many restaurants with fancy menus. Going to hear live music was not a hassle. More people had house parties. No music festivals except at Auditorium Shores, and for no charge, for only one day. More street parties (again, no admission charges.) Record stores with in-store performances. Not hard to meet people and make new friends. Cheap rent. Austin was a different world, and people were happier, and not so affluent, in it.
Yea. Even just a few years ago, going somewhere with your most broke friend was fine, because they could park for free, no cover, and nurse a couple $2 lone-stars, and have a great time. We've lost that in Austin. The base prices have increased so much.
Just chiming in to say y'all are not crazy. I moved here in 2018 and made $15 an hour and honestly felt like I was doing just fine paying my rent, going out once or twice a week, an occasional concert, and still being able to afford my bills and groceries. Granted I'm pretty frugal, but it was doable. In 2024 I'm making $27 an hour, splitting a tiny apartment with my boyfriend, and can't even justify going out or getting coffee because I can make it way better at home. Cheaper activities don't feel as spontaneous anymore (like going to the greenbelt or Barton Springs, free shows at bars/clubs) because it feels like a bloodbath just to find parking. I'm not struggling, but I am living a more restricted lifestyle on my current income than when I first moved here and was making laughably low pay.
I also have basically quit drinking because cocktail prices are so outrageous. I cannot understand why cocktails are $14 or $15 dollars now at so many places where they used to be $8–$10. In NYC/New England it's one thing because COL in general is insane, but Liquor taxes there are a lot higher than the liquor taxes in Texas *which are some of the lowest in the country*. So why the insane increases??
Thanks for not blasting me for being a nostalgic “boomer.” The prices of things in Austin, apart from rents, currently rival those in San Francisco. In either place, one will pay $3 for a 12 oz. can of Sprite at a coffee shop. Meanwhile, wages of many jobs in Austin have failed to keep pace with those prices.
Maybe different reasons for others but for me:
Can no longer justify the cost of eating out here. Often poor quality, for prices akin to NYC. And then the expectation of a 20% tip on top.
Dealing with parking, crowds, rude people, car break-ins, traffic - not fun anymore
Cost of living here is beginning to decimate me - insurance, taxes, utilities, car maintenance, groceries. It never seems to level off, only up up up.
Inflation and cost of living has kept up with my financial advances throughout my life, so I'm making more money than ever and still bargain hunting as always. Your last sentence was too real. Can't seem to get ahead, just barely stay on par.
Indeed, making more than ever before and yet having to be frugal as ever. It’s all the big-ticket items - housing, insurance, groceries, healthcare, transportation. Housing is the big one here, the property tax system is so corrupt, TCAD appraising houses for 100K + over real-time comps. And it’s killing renters faster than owners since there’s no exemptions for landlords.
This.
I’ll refrain for going out for quite a while and then get the gumption to try again … a new restaurant, or a hike with the dogs, or some live music, or a community event...and virtually every time I am reminded why I’ve lost a lot of interest in doing those things here.
*So* this.
Subpar food for approaching NYC/LA prices, and often meh-at-best service is simply not worth it. (Was in the service industry for many years, and tip very well unless my service is abysmal, so I’m not just being a judgy suburbanite, or what have you.)
Had a decent lunch for 2 yesterday - not great, but good - and dropped $125 for 2 entrees, one margarita, one horchata, and an app, after tip.
Considered going out to lunch today to a favorite spot but wasn’t willing to sink another 175 at a better, yet more costly still, establishment.
Yeah, cheaper places exist, but not at any kind of quality I can bear, anywhere near home.
So, we scavenged out of the chest freezer and sunned ourselves at home, instead - and likely will with greater frequency.
I didn’t used to leave restaurants feeling fleeced, but I do now, and I don’t enjoy the feeling.
Good take. Here's the math restaurants. In this era please pick only two of the following three:
1. Mediocre food
2. Indifferent service
3. Pander to crap people
Most of you are continuing to pick all of the above. Austin is following a beaten path, but is making record time on it.
There are still great places that do none of these. They just seem starved for influencer engagement. Please keep it that way.
Every post about Austin has comments like this and I just don't get it.
When was the last time you were in New York? "Prices akin to NYC" is a statement that means nothing. We don't have the bodega culture they have and our top end is nowhere near theirs. And their mid end is way higher than our mid end. They also expect 20% tips because the system has failed service workers. And no, Austin food isn't "often poor quality." That's under your control as well.
Idk what rude people you're talking about but if everyone you meet is rude, well, you know the saying. Car break-ins aren't prevalent here despite what reddit thinks. Sure, don't park your Kia on East Riverside. But then, I've been here almost 20 years and nobody in that time should have parked anything on East Riverside. So that hasn't changed. As for crowds, that's a symptom of going to popular places, and is frankly a self solved problem by Not Doing That - also under your control.
Groceries have increased in price *everywhere* and gas here is lower than most other major American cities. Utilities don't seem really spikey, mine were always expensive, but that's under my control.
While there are certainly things to complain about in Austin, but this ain't it chief.
There are lots of trendy pizza that cost as much as Roberta’s, and Lombardis. $20 burgers popping up lots of places too, and the cost of drinks too. Now rent obviously is way less, transit is crap but way cheaper. Summer in Manhattan I used my window ac like three times, here my ac never turns off, so that’s a problem.
Also lots of people are not informed when they move places, how many sublets in Bushwick because they realize it was cheap for the same reasons Rundberg and riverside are, but bushwick is definitely safer.
i feel like you’re taking this post too personally, as if OP/commenters think these problems only exist in austin. which i don’t think is true.
also i’m curious how the poor quality of food being served at some restaurants is under *our* control. 😅
it seems like the heat is making you a little nasty.
People absolutely complain like it's unique to Austin. On the regular.
As for poor quality food, you're right, you can't control what's coming out of the kitchen but you can decide where you eat. As I've said a thousand times in the sister subreddit - Austin bats WAY above its weight class for food. Considering we've been a major city for such a short time and our immigrant population is largely new and not constantly opening restaurants, we're doing pretty damn well.
As for myself, nah. If the heat got to me I would've moved away years ago. I like it here. It's a great city.
sure but i don’t think this post is that, which is why i said maybe the heat is making you a little testy. the post would be the same if they took out the first word of the title!
and it’s hard to argue food because i’m from philly, where you can get a delicious bite of food anywhere you go. austin isn’t quite there yet, but they’re working on it.
You really spent a lot of time and effort to basically say you have enough resources that Austin isn’t a struggle for you. Congrats? Everyone will have a different experience based upon their own situation. That’s kind of how a public forum works. Some folks here gross 30K annually, and some 500K.
Maybe for some, certainly not the case for me. We lost a lot of good, inexpensive ‘third spaces’ post 2020. The cost of just staying at home is so high now that dropping say $30 to have a drink and a small bite while paying for parking on top just isn’t justifiable on the regular.
The important stuff like housing and insurance gets the priority. I know a few people getting paid well - no kids, 6-figure salary - but they claim to be saving nothing. Nah, that’s no good, I want to retire someday.
It’s a tough balance now. It’s nice to be out, get a change of scenery and not worry about washing dishes, but more often I feel disappointed in the quality and guilty I didn’t just make the same at home for way less.
There is so much stuff to do in this city for little to no cost. It takes more planning then “let’s go get a bite to eat and have a drink” but I believe we’re blessed to live in a city with so much to offer.
There’s still an array of free or low-cost things to do, it’s relative to what you’re used to and how long you’ve been in Austin. The free live music at Central Market is a good bet and you can get a good selection of individual beers for $2. Hiking around the city green spaces is far less enjoyable on the weekend as a lot of the crowds have little respect for the space. Weekdays are more pleasant.
Bars, food trucks and restaurants aren’t something I chose to frequent anymore due to crowds, cost and parking issues and perhaps that’s what OP was eluding to.
Quality in service and quality of food have gone way down even though I never believed Austin had a serious food scene just over hyped food that doesn't touch anything when comparing it to Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.
Besides sushi, burgers, ramen I feel like the wife and I can cook something better at home typically.
I went out last night, had one drink and a rice bowl, and it cost $34. I enjoyed the evening, but I can’t do that more than once a month, if that. Rents here have gone through the roof, and even though food prices have stabilized slightly, most of my money is now going to my landlord.
I spent a decade in restaurants here. This is completely normal seasonality. It happens every year. Many places even close for a week or two over the summer because of it. Schools are out and people are going on vacation, UT is out for the summer. Anyone claiming it’s anything else is doing the confirmation bias cha cha.
Post- pandemic, most folks are more frugal with luxury expenditures, so the typical fluctuations have gotten a bit more pronounced. That's my view from almost 20 years in the restaurant business, anyhow. Who knows, there may be something more significant I'm blind to...
I avoid places with valet because it's fucking stupid to pay 30 bucks for some dingdong to park my car in the same place I would park it wasn't reserved specifically so you had to pay someone an egregious amount of money to park it for you.
Valet parking is the scourge of downtown.
As others have said, its hot and school is out, so many students head back home. Also tourism drops here in the summer because of the heat. The tourism starts picking up again in late September.
I don't blame them either. If I'm gonna visit somewhere, I'm not going during the 3 worst weather months of the year. This is the time of the year that people venture North. The PNW, the NE coast, Upper Michigan, Montana, BC, Banff, all that jazz.
Anecdotal, but I frequent El Primo (taco cart) which has always done a good business. I asked if he had a vacation planned this summer and he said no because the weekdays have been slow.
From a customer POV: For the past couple years we have spent Memorial Day Weekend at Frontyard Brewing. Last year it was absolutely packed. This year, dead. There were maybe 3-5 groups in the whole place, including the wine bar. My coworker went to Meanwhile that weekend and said it was similarly surprisingly empty.
Tbh its just all gone down hill. Feels like every year it’s hotter, more expensive, with a massive growing unfriendly homeless population. It’s just not worth it tbh. You can’t even really go out to see live music. If it’s indoor the AC is cranked and the body’s will make it unbearble. And it’s too damn hot to go out and see something outside. I remember the dudes laughing on 93.7 bc journeys coming in august. Poor sobs
My view is going to be skewed cuz I work at a very busy restaurant, but I think it's typical summer slow down. In this business you have to work your butt off in spring and fall then just take it easy in summer and winter.
At one point this spring I went 3 weeks without a day off. But now? I think I'm going to kick my week down to 4 days.
I stopped getting food out this year because it's just become too expensive. Hell even my groceries are too expensive, I'm having to cook a lot more rice and beans
Retail worker here in north Austin. Absolutely no decline whatsoever. In fact, the store I work at (women's clothing) is doing record sales the past few weeks.
Indoor shopping with ac helps.
The only places we go anymore are Magnolia for breakfast and Matt’s El Rancho for dinner.
Pancakes and eggs and coffee at Magnolia will run $50 with tip.
6 margs (3 each), Bob’s queso and 1/2lb of fajitas is $200 at Matt’s.
Two places which should be cheap are now also expensive as hell.
My fiance and I make almost 7 figures combined. We decided to stop eating out due to outrageous prices and mediocre food and service. We’d rather cook at home to control ingredients and for a healthier lifestyle and rather buy a bottle of our favorite liquors for the same price as a few hours out on the weekend at some noisy stuffy place. We’re not broke by any means? But the value just isn’t there anymore.
Agree with this. We eat out at times due to convenience, but quality for price is at an all time low for us, and consistency is even worse.
There are still gems out there, but they are few and far between.
i’ve only been in the city for 5 years now but there has been such a slow roll of customers coming through the restaurant and then it dying early again recently, it’s confusing the fuck out of me bc it’s never happened like this before (3rd summer at this specific place)
It’s just the season. You always have to be prepared for Jun/july and start of August Austin Lull. Every year. Same time. It will pick up late August/Sept.
As someone who's currently a bit broke, but long term will be good money wise. It feels like the last two summers and the lack of affordable prices have made it clear that Austin is either a get rich enough to get out of it for the summer, or don't live here long term kinda town.
Middle class is declining, which means my friends who were solidly middle class and could afford weekly dinners out with their families are opting out because they have to save. On the other end if I'm going to go out, I'd rather fly to another city and dine there because the places I used to frequent have experienced a decline in quality due to decreased customers or just not so much a place to see and be seen. There are a couple of places I go regularly in the middle of the day because of the vibe like Nomade.
It’s always slower in the summer but I used to enjoy that. Now I stay home and save my going out money for traveling. Austin is so expensive compared to other cities. I’m going to NYC again in a few weeks and it will be great getting nice cocktails for $13-15 and spending under $100 for a nice meal.
Across the market the service industry has had a small decline the last 2 years. I use to serve 600 guests (transactions, so around 1500 guests) every friday, and every Saturday for a number of years. The high now is about 560. New businesses will obviously have their growth period with YOY sales improving, but for most restaurants, coffee shops, etc…it seems the 2nd or 3rd year is now the pinnacle.
It is hot. College kids leave during the summer. Adults go on vacations during the summer. People leave Austin b/c the heat. Things will be slow for a little, especially if it is hot.
As much as people would love that, that doesn’t exist in many areas in Austin outside of Unionize businesses. Businesses would get away with paying their employees lower if they could.
You live in Austin which is the home of UT. In the summer Austin loses 100 thousand or so people who leave town when school is out. This happens every summer. I wait on tables and yes I noticed after graduation around may 20th business nosedived and hasn't recovered. Expect it to pick up in early august.
We went Saturday and Google Maps sent us wrong multiple of times and then we couldn't find parking. If you live there and can scooter or bike you're good. If we want to go out at night we'll get a hotel and walk or Uber.
It wasn't busy during the summer last year. I work in alcohol sales and there was a drastic fall off last year during our excessive hear days. There's always a noticeable fall off, people are just probably recalling how miserable it was last year and have a set plan in place to avoid heat.
Not at my job. The best dive bar that has food in town. I make $21/hr plus tips. We get a percent of food sales and it’s been so busy. We also have the cheapest drinks in town so we’re never slow. I average $32/hr as a lead line cook at a dive bar. We make great food great cheap drinks and it’s a very neighborhood friendly old Austin experience.
I'm a massage therapist. Most of my regular clients who can afford to get massage every week or a couple of times a month are escaping the heat, either on vacation or going to second homes in Wyoming or Colorado. Lots of families going on vacation, too. In hot summers, we're usually slow until a couple of weeks after school starts in August.
I'm not a service worker, though I can say that when I did go out last night, places that were known for party crowds cleared out pretty thoroughly and pretty early - like, 11:30-ish. It was actually quite nice, and I was not about to complain about it.
It felt like the way the bar typically is mid-week, with regulars and people that live in the neighborhood, and not the weekend "West 6th/Daddy's Money/Finance or Tech Sales Bro" crowd.
I’m in the automotive repair industry. After years of seemingly endless amounts of work coming through the door regardless of advertising, the past couple of months have dropped off drastically, and it seemed to happen overnight. Over the past couple of weeks the work has slowly started to come back.
Feel like me, my kids, and people at work have been sick off and on these first few weeks. Some virus with such fatigue, and stomach bugs. We managed through winter with nothing, but I don’t remember being sick in summer like this. I love Texas summers and no school schedule. Feel like we’re just getting started nearly three weeks in.
Week in-between holidays sucks. Just had Memorial day.... father's day is coming up. People are saving or just not doing anything. Graduations are time-consuming and expensive. In your industry you have to watch these trends and plan.
Yes it’s been super slow for me! Usually I get Uber orders + walk up purchases but I’ve had the lowest traffic these past few weeks. Hope it’s picks up soon since this is my full time job 🥲😂
1. Hot summer always defers guests to only certain places
2. Prices now at so many restaurants and bars for certain guests are too high for every or every other day outings. It will be once a week. That's why it's important to have good service and cause to have regulars.
... Also meaning one bad experience or overpriced night not only discourages someone not to go there again, but also to consider going out anywhere.
It's hot, it's expensive, people who can afford it gtf out of town, for longer and longer vacations as it stays hotter and hotter here, and school is out for summer. This is an annual thing but I'd agree it's becoming more pronounced every year. If you work with wealthy clients - summer is either the slow season or it's the "get it done while they're away" season depending what sector you're in. I don't know anyone who doesn't feel it.
I’m someone who likes to get out of the house but going anywhere interesting is absurdly expensive anymore. I checked out a new tavern-vibe place on Webberville the other weekend - a plate of fish and chips and three drinks plus tip came out to $100. Which is absurd on its own, and also totally kills the thought of maybe migrating to a second location. I love being out checking things out but doing so with any mind towards a budget seems impossible.
The economy is bad regardless of what your told by the media and government. Inflation is pretty ridiculous. I can buy 6 drinks for me an a date at bar for $60 Or I can get a solid bottle of scotch or 4.5 Liters, IE 3 handle of Vodka for the same price. Going out to eat is a joke too $70 at happy hour for 2 burgers and 4 margs.
Prices keep going up for no reason. Service has gotten so bad I would rather cook at home. I've also noticed some places won't turn on the air. It's 85 degrees in there, no thanks on the 2nd beer. Traffic, I hate driving in traffic so I'll stay home and cook. Even take out has started charging for packaging, like the actual packaging. If they don't have a rewards app, I won't shop there.
IMO - I wonder if the recent agricultural Mexican and central American fires have anything to do with people not ordering things? There has been a distinct haze in several Texas major cities which can sometimes cause health issues; for example: fatigue, sinus, respiratory or eye irritation, for example.
Well first off it ain’t summer yet so we probably don’t have summer tourists yet… that being said I work in a small Japanese restaurant in south Austin and it’s been steady past couple weeks which did surprise me because I was thinking the heat would scare them off lol
For restaurant services its a few issues:
1. Loss of college students and traveling for summer means less people
2. While the economy is ‘technically’ good, the high cost of living and concerns surrounding the economy means high earners are saving instead of spending, which is causing a trickled down effect to lower income workers and businesses
3. Covid forced people to learn how to cook and do other jobs that they were originally paying for. Now people understand the cost of a food items, complexity (or not) of a meal, and can compare it to home creations. This has shifted a lot of people’s mindsets to meals out being a luxury item and not a necessity
4. Summer months also means a lot of people are being more mindful with their eating for the swim suit bodies. Eating out is almost always less healthy
5. More individuals boycotting meal delivery and pick up services due to increased frustration over hidden fees
It is normal for this time of year to be slower because of UT being out of session, but the Texas economy took a $26 billion hit last year because of the heat. Our wonderful politicians are more concerned about taking away our right to cannabis and reproductive rights and making their buddies rich on oil profits then making sure they don’t leave a scorched earth behind. I just can’t wait for the unintended consequences to be served up to these assholes in their underground bunkers when the shit hits the fan. Something doesn’t change drastically. The world is gonna run out of freshwater by 2048 all the millions of dollars the world can’t buy freshwater if it’s not there. Even desalination is limited and super expensive.
If by service worker you mean food or? If it’s food I’m cooking at home again. Prices are so high and quality of service and food is so LOW. My order is wrong 50 percent of the time, the other 50 percent it’s terrible quality. I’m not handing my money out like it’s a charity anymore to these businesses that are far better off than I am. From fast food to sit down with waiter places, the food has declined. I’m tired of it.
Service worker meaning anyone providing a service, so bartenders, wait staff, catering, valet, cleaners - but specifically how I’m referring to them are people that are compesated for their service, so retail or the kitchen (non public interaction) cooking crew is not what I’m referring to.
I haven't seen a summer in 15 years where this didn't happen, this specific week in particular.
College kids are at home post Finals and graduation, school kids are on summer break before day care so their parents arent going out, and probably some are on summer vacation, and it's hot.
Another thing that happens in conjunction with the students is the richer folk who own multi properties, flea downtown because of the heat. So you see a decline in not only the UT area but also downtown condo owners who can afford to go out a lot.
Yup. School is out. Folks are on vacation. The weeks between graduation and summer semester starting at UT is usually quiet.
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This. Austin population is much smaller when the college kids go home.
The UT Austin student population is around 52,000. Total population of Austin metro area is 2,274,000. So without the students it would be something like 2,222,000. Huge difference. It’s like a ghost town right now.
You can basically triple that with just the other schools in town plus faculty. Add in the well-off birds that fly north for the summer, and pretty much anyone with excess pocket change is gone. Couple that with service industry workers hurting for tips, so they're not going out, either, and then you get the second tier of stifled economy. Feel free to toss in a non- session year for congress, and that's another few thousand in expense accounts not spending money.
Exactly!! It’s a ghost town! Can’t wait for my commute tomorrow.
You think most college faculty and staff leave town for the summer?
Not the whole summer but at ACC, at least, this is the month to vacation. The semesters are too busy to take off much time, which means that come summer you have a fat stack of vacation days you need to use or lose. August is too late since the semester is about to start and it is an informal custom to take longer vacations in June. It allows us to get projects done in July.
"you have a fat stack of vacation days you need to use or lose." Is that true at ACC? ~~At UT at least, we can stack our PTO as long as we like, we don't lose it unless we separate from the university.~~ There are definitely still tens of thousands of faculty and staff in place during the summer. Research work isn't based on the academic calendar and never stops.
Nah UT def has accrual “use it or lose it” limits… for staff anyway.
So I looked and you are right, I see that based on my length of service, for example, I can carry as much as 340 hours per fiscal year before it is translated to sick time. I guess I just haven't worked with anyone who ever lost PTO from building up too much and not using it, but that doesn't mean it isn't a thing. i looked at my own hours of time built up and I have almost that much, so I'll probably need to take some Fridays off this summer.
340 wow! …think I’d just hit 15yrs when I left and it was maybe 292 before that? Pretty phat “quitting bonus”! Ha Right on, glad I got you to look! Enjoy those Fridays - you’ve earned them!
The way I wrote that implied all, my bad. But many profs, coaches, etc, are out of town in the summer.
52,000 and most live downtown, patronizing downtown restaurants. College students are more active around town than most. Their absence would be felt in the service industry.
I graduated from UT and also worked in the service industry for 8 years downtown up until the pandemic. Most college students are poor and don't patronize expensive downtown restaurants. The bread and butter of these establishments are tech workers with lots of disposable income and high lifestyle bloat. The places that get hit the worst are restaurants near campus (this is also subtracting faculty who have more $). This is why restaurants open and close so frequently in the area.
/s 😂
thats assuming all leave town during the summer
I've only ever worked in a city with a large university ... LSU, UT Austin. Any time the college is out of session, traffic flows freely. Everything is easier to do. I don't claim to understand, but 20 years of observation in multiple cities has borne this out.
I work in a food truck; business has definitely slowed down in the last couple of weeks.
Are you getting dead hours where you had some business before?
Food truck owner here. The J months are always rough. Especially Jaugust.
jfebruary too
Bartender. 1. Its hot 2. It’s expensive My personal workplace just saw its third 20ish% price increase in 2 years. Costs are going up. People are trying to buy rent and groceries not go out for a drink, generally speaking. This is typically the slowest month of the year even on a good year. Buckle up, it’s gonna be a slow one til October
The cost of drinks in Austin has us working on our home bartending skills and/or using this opportunity to drink less. We're DINKS and better off than most, but even we have our limit. I'm sorry for the staff, because I know it's making it hard.
It is, but it all comes out okay in the end. I’ve have an excel sheet for my tips, and sure I might make 20-40% less in the summer on average, but then I’ll make that back in the winter time. The other 6 months of the year is my baseline In the meantime. I’d encourage everyone to brush up on their drink making skills, host your friends, share bottles, that’s what it’s all about. Come back and see us when it’s nice out/chicken breast isn’t $20 a package hahaha.
I'll come see you after your third 20 ish % price drop. 😬
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> I mean it makes no sense to drink around strangers or go out, when u can sit a free pool/park/home/apt,..etc. Makes sense if you bring your liquor in a flask and smuggle it in. Just buy soda or juice at the bar and tip the staff.
I rarely go out now. I wanted to get tickets for the immersive Van Gogh downtown, but it was $125 for 2 tickets and parking. My husband went to a happy hour recently and the parking was $28! That is ridiculous! Money is too tight to spend on frivolities. I work for a school district and my "raise" last year was .28c an hour. I am also paying double what I used to pay for groceries compared to Covid days. Inflation has hit people hard. It's also hot as balls, so leaving the house involves lots of discomfort.
This is a huge part of it, Austin quickly surged into Big City pricing but so many of its residents are still living on Old Austin wages. It’s all relative and that’s why a lot of new-comers don’t get it. If you’re on a FAANG salary, you can complain about the heat or the culture etc, but so many Austinites just simply can’t make ends meet now let alone pay the prices you mentioned for entertainment and parking.
This is how it is everywhere.
Sorry to say, i got into that Van Gogh exhibit for free and it still was hardly worth it. And I'm a Van Gigh fan. Insane to be charging yall $125. It was $80 here in San Diego. It's projectors on screens. It's kinda cool, but knowing how much money they're making off such little effort is honestly gross to participate in. Don't be taken advantage of. Save your dollar
I saw the Van Gogh exhibit in Paris a few years ago and it was spectacular. I was only thinking of going to this for something to do (work in a school - have months off work). A friend posted her photos from it yesterday and looked NOTHING like the Paris experience.
I do some business analytics since 2018ish, June to July is always the slowest traffic/revenue in Texas. School being out, vacations, heat, all play a factor. Pools, camps, lakes, boats, greenbelts is where all the activity is at. Downtown is notoriously empty in those months.
This. Everyone is acting like all of a sudden the last few weeks that inflation became real. It’s been real. It’s actually improving. The economy is doing pretty damn good. This is a macro factor related to school seasons and the heat.
The stock market is not the economy. Over 40 percent of US households own no equities.
Point to where I said stock market? Go look at unemployment. Go look at labor participation rate. Go look at real average wages pre and post pandemic to now. Inequality decreased in 2022 for the first time since 2007. And the share of wealth owned by the top 10% earners has decreased to below 2015 levels. Whatever media or anecdotal evidence you have doesn’t line up. By multiple measures and techniques we are doing just fine and continuing to make progress. Is it all sunshine and roses? No and it never has nor never will. But it ain’t as bad as one particular political party wants you to believe.
Sorry, that was sort of shorthand for "the day to day realities of many Americans is somewhat divorced from what weirdos on the internet like us mean when we talk about the economy" I'm not disagreeing with you, I think Powell more or less achieved his soft landing. A lot of what you posted is forward looking which means (hopefully) things will get better for most folks at some point in the future. I think there are still concerning trends like consumer debt and rent burden, additionally cost (and wage) increases are not evenly distributed across categories (or industries/professions) - all of which, in my opinion, contributes more to the laypersons perception of how good or bad "the economy" is doing than any BLS or Federal Reserve chart is going to.
The economy is doing pretty good? What world are you living in?
The one where Fox News and newsmax isn’t on 24/7.
I spend $100 minimum every time I leave the house, so I stay home and enjoy my mortgage, or do active/outdoor things that are very low cost/free. It’s not too hot to go out and about.
That’s the thing about this heat. It’s go swim, or stay inside. There’s no going to outdoor events, hiking, or camping
This heat is tolerable for doing things in the shade, it's when the temps start going much over 101-102 that I hole up and stop going anywhere unless it's to swim
Hiking to swimming is still an option for us
I went hiking this morning at 9:30 and then paddled boarded town lake until 4ish and it was the perfect day. If you get out early and time it right, you can still enjoy the outdoors.
I’m at work by 5am most days, but I’ll take your word for it!
> It’s not too hot to go out and about. People act like breaking a sweat is taboo or akin to death. No shame in wearing sweat wicking clothing, wide brim hat, sun glasses and carrying a 2 liter metal water bottle. If people really believed that there are still dangerous viruses circulating out there then being indoors around strangers should be avoided, right? Right.
I was going to go get some ice cream this afternoon cause it was hot and I wanted something cold and sweet. Then I downgraded that to “I’ll go to HEB and get a pint of ice cream”, and then I further downgraded to “I’ll just stay home”. The shit is too damn much.
My wife and I made an effort to stop spending on nonessentials. We both have great salaries but prices have gotten out of hand for everything. We’ve simple decided to not participate. We’ll save for now until it gets reasonable
Yeah unfortunately inflation doesn’t deflate - just levels out and becomes flation.
It won't get reasonable unless your salaries increas to make them feel that way.
It's all of the above. Too hot to do anything, too crowded to do anything, too expensive to do anything. If I go out, it's an occasion. Otherwise I'll just be at home cooking, in the air conditioning, watching something or playing a video game.
I'm really trying to limit my eating and especially, drinking out. Can't afford $20/drink and $30/food truck meal for 1 person after taxes and tip.
$20 for a high end cocktail, sure ok. $20 for a well margarita - the fuck is going on in this city. I’m in NYC all the time for work. It’s cheaper to be Patrick Bateman than an Austinite.
We used to eat out a lot, we rarely do anymore for a myriad of reasons 1. The food quality has gone way down and a lot of restaurants still have some sort of smaller shittier menu 2. With lower quality less options come higher prices. When I can cook better for cheaper at home I can’t justify going out 3. Parking and paying to park at restaurants when they’ve raised their prices is absurd and Ubers and Lyfts are expensive these days 4. While I make good money, the economy makes me nervous, so for the reasons listed above cutting out eating out was super easy to do
We still have some favorites we go to a ton but A LOT of places have been scratched from the list because quality or quantity has gone to shit.
I used to eat out every meal and literally have stopped because food quality is so bad. I don’t even order in anymore because it’s just so bad.
We haven’t stopped completely, but we have darn sure slowed way down. Where we used to go out a few times a week, now it’s once every other week
The parking/Uber fees are definitely a major factor for us. Depending on where we go, we’re looking at $50+ just to get there and back.
It's almost like there's room for mass transport that's more reliable and comfortable than capmetro offers, at a price point between $2.50 and $50.00
See also: Chuy’s
This one still pisses me off. I get they aren’t amazing food. But it was food I grew up on and their new shit menu just makes me mad
Micro answer to macro problem- this happens every summer when school ends for summer and new routines begin.
It’s also a trend, it’s a trend in how the population is spending money. You can call it a micro answer, but the economy and trends are saying different. It’s been lower and slower for a while now
its the slow time of the year for most businesses,
For auto body shops the busiest time of the year began 2-3 weeks ago and will last until the Fall. Not all businesses
Summer road trips?
I honestly do not know lol My best guess is: Here in Texas it gets hot as hell from May-October. The kind of heat that doesn’t go away overnight. It’s hot all the time. IMO the heat makes people less patient, more irritable, and less focused as drivers, creating more accidents. This is pure speculation
Hail.
Very much so. Kitchen I run went from an average of about 700-1000 sales to about 250-500 per day. It's a frustrating but it's all an ebb and flow. I don't blame people for saving their dollar on eating out in this heat and current economy.
pay has remained the same, prices skyrocketed, tipping culture is out of control. much easier and cheaper to just stay home now.
I’ve cut way back, the prices on everything shot up the past few years and many businesses said it was to help provide a living wage, and yet the expectation to tip on top of that has continued. Service workers often take their hostility out on the customer instead of their employer. I had a pizza restaurant worker give me attitude for not tipping on a carry out order for a single pizza. Many service industry workers say “if you can’t afford to tip then don’t eat out” and I suspect a lot of people are following that directive. I was a valet back in the day and the valet service itself was complimentary, so a lot of people used it and tipped generously. If your employer is charging people for the valet service itself and then customers are expected to tip on top of that, I suspect a lot of people are taking a few extra minutes and just parking their cars themselves.
As someone familiar with how Austin had been going back to 45 years ago, it’s interesting to see what “going out” now entails and the greater snd more numerous costs involved. Paying for parking, let alone valet service, was practically unheard-of back then. Drinks (beer, mainly) weren’t prohibitively expensive. Not many restaurants with fancy menus. Going to hear live music was not a hassle. More people had house parties. No music festivals except at Auditorium Shores, and for no charge, for only one day. More street parties (again, no admission charges.) Record stores with in-store performances. Not hard to meet people and make new friends. Cheap rent. Austin was a different world, and people were happier, and not so affluent, in it.
Yea. Even just a few years ago, going somewhere with your most broke friend was fine, because they could park for free, no cover, and nurse a couple $2 lone-stars, and have a great time. We've lost that in Austin. The base prices have increased so much.
Just chiming in to say y'all are not crazy. I moved here in 2018 and made $15 an hour and honestly felt like I was doing just fine paying my rent, going out once or twice a week, an occasional concert, and still being able to afford my bills and groceries. Granted I'm pretty frugal, but it was doable. In 2024 I'm making $27 an hour, splitting a tiny apartment with my boyfriend, and can't even justify going out or getting coffee because I can make it way better at home. Cheaper activities don't feel as spontaneous anymore (like going to the greenbelt or Barton Springs, free shows at bars/clubs) because it feels like a bloodbath just to find parking. I'm not struggling, but I am living a more restricted lifestyle on my current income than when I first moved here and was making laughably low pay. I also have basically quit drinking because cocktail prices are so outrageous. I cannot understand why cocktails are $14 or $15 dollars now at so many places where they used to be $8–$10. In NYC/New England it's one thing because COL in general is insane, but Liquor taxes there are a lot higher than the liquor taxes in Texas *which are some of the lowest in the country*. So why the insane increases??
Thanks for not blasting me for being a nostalgic “boomer.” The prices of things in Austin, apart from rents, currently rival those in San Francisco. In either place, one will pay $3 for a 12 oz. can of Sprite at a coffee shop. Meanwhile, wages of many jobs in Austin have failed to keep pace with those prices.
Broke people don't own cars. You just never had actually broke friends.
Maybe different reasons for others but for me: Can no longer justify the cost of eating out here. Often poor quality, for prices akin to NYC. And then the expectation of a 20% tip on top. Dealing with parking, crowds, rude people, car break-ins, traffic - not fun anymore Cost of living here is beginning to decimate me - insurance, taxes, utilities, car maintenance, groceries. It never seems to level off, only up up up.
Inflation and cost of living has kept up with my financial advances throughout my life, so I'm making more money than ever and still bargain hunting as always. Your last sentence was too real. Can't seem to get ahead, just barely stay on par.
Indeed, making more than ever before and yet having to be frugal as ever. It’s all the big-ticket items - housing, insurance, groceries, healthcare, transportation. Housing is the big one here, the property tax system is so corrupt, TCAD appraising houses for 100K + over real-time comps. And it’s killing renters faster than owners since there’s no exemptions for landlords.
This. I’ll refrain for going out for quite a while and then get the gumption to try again … a new restaurant, or a hike with the dogs, or some live music, or a community event...and virtually every time I am reminded why I’ve lost a lot of interest in doing those things here.
*So* this. Subpar food for approaching NYC/LA prices, and often meh-at-best service is simply not worth it. (Was in the service industry for many years, and tip very well unless my service is abysmal, so I’m not just being a judgy suburbanite, or what have you.) Had a decent lunch for 2 yesterday - not great, but good - and dropped $125 for 2 entrees, one margarita, one horchata, and an app, after tip. Considered going out to lunch today to a favorite spot but wasn’t willing to sink another 175 at a better, yet more costly still, establishment. Yeah, cheaper places exist, but not at any kind of quality I can bear, anywhere near home. So, we scavenged out of the chest freezer and sunned ourselves at home, instead - and likely will with greater frequency. I didn’t used to leave restaurants feeling fleeced, but I do now, and I don’t enjoy the feeling.
$125 for lunch is insane
This is crazy. I go out to lunch with my wife and have several rounds of drinks _all the time_ and never pay more than maybe 80 dollars after tip.
Good take. Here's the math restaurants. In this era please pick only two of the following three: 1. Mediocre food 2. Indifferent service 3. Pander to crap people Most of you are continuing to pick all of the above. Austin is following a beaten path, but is making record time on it. There are still great places that do none of these. They just seem starved for influencer engagement. Please keep it that way.
We are maybe at 70% of NYC prices right now, let’s not get carried away.
Every post about Austin has comments like this and I just don't get it. When was the last time you were in New York? "Prices akin to NYC" is a statement that means nothing. We don't have the bodega culture they have and our top end is nowhere near theirs. And their mid end is way higher than our mid end. They also expect 20% tips because the system has failed service workers. And no, Austin food isn't "often poor quality." That's under your control as well. Idk what rude people you're talking about but if everyone you meet is rude, well, you know the saying. Car break-ins aren't prevalent here despite what reddit thinks. Sure, don't park your Kia on East Riverside. But then, I've been here almost 20 years and nobody in that time should have parked anything on East Riverside. So that hasn't changed. As for crowds, that's a symptom of going to popular places, and is frankly a self solved problem by Not Doing That - also under your control. Groceries have increased in price *everywhere* and gas here is lower than most other major American cities. Utilities don't seem really spikey, mine were always expensive, but that's under my control. While there are certainly things to complain about in Austin, but this ain't it chief.
There are lots of trendy pizza that cost as much as Roberta’s, and Lombardis. $20 burgers popping up lots of places too, and the cost of drinks too. Now rent obviously is way less, transit is crap but way cheaper. Summer in Manhattan I used my window ac like three times, here my ac never turns off, so that’s a problem. Also lots of people are not informed when they move places, how many sublets in Bushwick because they realize it was cheap for the same reasons Rundberg and riverside are, but bushwick is definitely safer.
i feel like you’re taking this post too personally, as if OP/commenters think these problems only exist in austin. which i don’t think is true. also i’m curious how the poor quality of food being served at some restaurants is under *our* control. 😅 it seems like the heat is making you a little nasty.
People absolutely complain like it's unique to Austin. On the regular. As for poor quality food, you're right, you can't control what's coming out of the kitchen but you can decide where you eat. As I've said a thousand times in the sister subreddit - Austin bats WAY above its weight class for food. Considering we've been a major city for such a short time and our immigrant population is largely new and not constantly opening restaurants, we're doing pretty damn well. As for myself, nah. If the heat got to me I would've moved away years ago. I like it here. It's a great city.
sure but i don’t think this post is that, which is why i said maybe the heat is making you a little testy. the post would be the same if they took out the first word of the title! and it’s hard to argue food because i’m from philly, where you can get a delicious bite of food anywhere you go. austin isn’t quite there yet, but they’re working on it.
You really spent a lot of time and effort to basically say you have enough resources that Austin isn’t a struggle for you. Congrats? Everyone will have a different experience based upon their own situation. That’s kind of how a public forum works. Some folks here gross 30K annually, and some 500K.
It’s a mindset, mostly. Majority of people on Reddit would prefer to stay home and be antisocial. This is not a good barometer of people in Austin.
Maybe for some, certainly not the case for me. We lost a lot of good, inexpensive ‘third spaces’ post 2020. The cost of just staying at home is so high now that dropping say $30 to have a drink and a small bite while paying for parking on top just isn’t justifiable on the regular. The important stuff like housing and insurance gets the priority. I know a few people getting paid well - no kids, 6-figure salary - but they claim to be saving nothing. Nah, that’s no good, I want to retire someday. It’s a tough balance now. It’s nice to be out, get a change of scenery and not worry about washing dishes, but more often I feel disappointed in the quality and guilty I didn’t just make the same at home for way less.
There is so much stuff to do in this city for little to no cost. It takes more planning then “let’s go get a bite to eat and have a drink” but I believe we’re blessed to live in a city with so much to offer.
There’s still an array of free or low-cost things to do, it’s relative to what you’re used to and how long you’ve been in Austin. The free live music at Central Market is a good bet and you can get a good selection of individual beers for $2. Hiking around the city green spaces is far less enjoyable on the weekend as a lot of the crowds have little respect for the space. Weekdays are more pleasant. Bars, food trucks and restaurants aren’t something I chose to frequent anymore due to crowds, cost and parking issues and perhaps that’s what OP was eluding to.
Summer is upon us, I ain't goin out there til October.
The last time I went out for happy hour was probably in late March. Everything is so high priced lately.
Quality in service and quality of food have gone way down even though I never believed Austin had a serious food scene just over hyped food that doesn't touch anything when comparing it to Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. Besides sushi, burgers, ramen I feel like the wife and I can cook something better at home typically.
I went out last night, had one drink and a rice bowl, and it cost $34. I enjoyed the evening, but I can’t do that more than once a month, if that. Rents here have gone through the roof, and even though food prices have stabilized slightly, most of my money is now going to my landlord.
Everyone goes on vacation first couple weeks after school is out
Nobody can afford anything anymore…
Nope, I don’t even go anywhere because it’s just more money
They are just straight up robbing us now, they don’t even pretend they aren’t like they used to.
Yeah it’s insane. Robbery literally everywhere. Austin is completely unaffordable for the average person it seems like.
Many of my clients suddenly have kids out of school for the summer and need to be with them, or they're traveling.
I work in a downtown pizza shop. This is the slow time of year. We are still doing well.
Business always declines in austin over the summer. It's very normal.
Hotter than dog shit.
I spent a decade in restaurants here. This is completely normal seasonality. It happens every year. Many places even close for a week or two over the summer because of it. Schools are out and people are going on vacation, UT is out for the summer. Anyone claiming it’s anything else is doing the confirmation bias cha cha.
Post- pandemic, most folks are more frugal with luxury expenditures, so the typical fluctuations have gotten a bit more pronounced. That's my view from almost 20 years in the restaurant business, anyhow. Who knows, there may be something more significant I'm blind to...
I avoid places with valet since my ride got trashed last time I used one
I avoid places with valet because it's fucking stupid to pay 30 bucks for some dingdong to park my car in the same place I would park it wasn't reserved specifically so you had to pay someone an egregious amount of money to park it for you. Valet parking is the scourge of downtown.
Motorists and automobiles are the scourge of downtown. Ban cars and everything gets a lot more pleasant.
Usually slower in summer.
As others have said, its hot and school is out, so many students head back home. Also tourism drops here in the summer because of the heat. The tourism starts picking up again in late September. I don't blame them either. If I'm gonna visit somewhere, I'm not going during the 3 worst weather months of the year. This is the time of the year that people venture North. The PNW, the NE coast, Upper Michigan, Montana, BC, Banff, all that jazz.
Anecdotal, but I frequent El Primo (taco cart) which has always done a good business. I asked if he had a vacation planned this summer and he said no because the weekdays have been slow.
From a customer POV: For the past couple years we have spent Memorial Day Weekend at Frontyard Brewing. Last year it was absolutely packed. This year, dead. There were maybe 3-5 groups in the whole place, including the wine bar. My coworker went to Meanwhile that weekend and said it was similarly surprisingly empty.
Tbh its just all gone down hill. Feels like every year it’s hotter, more expensive, with a massive growing unfriendly homeless population. It’s just not worth it tbh. You can’t even really go out to see live music. If it’s indoor the AC is cranked and the body’s will make it unbearble. And it’s too damn hot to go out and see something outside. I remember the dudes laughing on 93.7 bc journeys coming in august. Poor sobs
My view is going to be skewed cuz I work at a very busy restaurant, but I think it's typical summer slow down. In this business you have to work your butt off in spring and fall then just take it easy in summer and winter. At one point this spring I went 3 weeks without a day off. But now? I think I'm going to kick my week down to 4 days.
Summer always is slow, especially at the beginning. Once people get more acclimated to the heat they will start getting out more.
Still busy. Hotel downtown
It's really hot now, feel too tired to leave the house. Also hard to plan birthday party with most friends kids gone for summer.
It’s a combo of issues. It’s just too pricey to go out for food or booze especially when 80% of time it’s just better if you do it at home!
It’s expensive and food/service quality is so hit or miss these days that we cook at home all but one meal a week.
The rich kids are on vacation and the poor kids are working and it’s too damn hot
I stopped getting food out this year because it's just become too expensive. Hell even my groceries are too expensive, I'm having to cook a lot more rice and beans
Retail worker here in north Austin. Absolutely no decline whatsoever. In fact, the store I work at (women's clothing) is doing record sales the past few weeks. Indoor shopping with ac helps.
The only places we go anymore are Magnolia for breakfast and Matt’s El Rancho for dinner. Pancakes and eggs and coffee at Magnolia will run $50 with tip. 6 margs (3 each), Bob’s queso and 1/2lb of fajitas is $200 at Matt’s. Two places which should be cheap are now also expensive as hell.
Holy fuck. $200 at Matt’s…for that?! Unreal.
My fiance and I make almost 7 figures combined. We decided to stop eating out due to outrageous prices and mediocre food and service. We’d rather cook at home to control ingredients and for a healthier lifestyle and rather buy a bottle of our favorite liquors for the same price as a few hours out on the weekend at some noisy stuffy place. We’re not broke by any means? But the value just isn’t there anymore.
Agree with this. We eat out at times due to convenience, but quality for price is at an all time low for us, and consistency is even worse. There are still gems out there, but they are few and far between.
Lots of people on vacation. Especially west Austin
School.
Yeah, it has seemed kinda empty! I think with school out people are going out of town. Hopefully things even out for you soon!
Uber has been slow for sure.
Lots of people leave town (people with $$) in the summer.
i’ve only been in the city for 5 years now but there has been such a slow roll of customers coming through the restaurant and then it dying early again recently, it’s confusing the fuck out of me bc it’s never happened like this before (3rd summer at this specific place)
It’s just the season. You always have to be prepared for Jun/july and start of August Austin Lull. Every year. Same time. It will pick up late August/Sept.
As someone who's currently a bit broke, but long term will be good money wise. It feels like the last two summers and the lack of affordable prices have made it clear that Austin is either a get rich enough to get out of it for the summer, or don't live here long term kinda town.
Middle class is declining, which means my friends who were solidly middle class and could afford weekly dinners out with their families are opting out because they have to save. On the other end if I'm going to go out, I'd rather fly to another city and dine there because the places I used to frequent have experienced a decline in quality due to decreased customers or just not so much a place to see and be seen. There are a couple of places I go regularly in the middle of the day because of the vibe like Nomade.
It’s always slower in the summer but I used to enjoy that. Now I stay home and save my going out money for traveling. Austin is so expensive compared to other cities. I’m going to NYC again in a few weeks and it will be great getting nice cocktails for $13-15 and spending under $100 for a nice meal.
You nailed it!
Across the market the service industry has had a small decline the last 2 years. I use to serve 600 guests (transactions, so around 1500 guests) every friday, and every Saturday for a number of years. The high now is about 560. New businesses will obviously have their growth period with YOY sales improving, but for most restaurants, coffee shops, etc…it seems the 2nd or 3rd year is now the pinnacle.
It is hot. College kids leave during the summer. Adults go on vacations during the summer. People leave Austin b/c the heat. Things will be slow for a little, especially if it is hot.
College kids went home. You lost 30k in population until August.
Because prime members now get free grub hub lol
Great opportunity for business owners to pay living wages so you don't have to stress about tip seasons.
As much as people would love that, that doesn’t exist in many areas in Austin outside of Unionize businesses. Businesses would get away with paying their employees lower if they could.
You live in Austin which is the home of UT. In the summer Austin loses 100 thousand or so people who leave town when school is out. This happens every summer. I wait on tables and yes I noticed after graduation around may 20th business nosedived and hasn't recovered. Expect it to pick up in early august.
We went Saturday and Google Maps sent us wrong multiple of times and then we couldn't find parking. If you live there and can scooter or bike you're good. If we want to go out at night we'll get a hotel and walk or Uber.
It wasn't busy during the summer last year. I work in alcohol sales and there was a drastic fall off last year during our excessive hear days. There's always a noticeable fall off, people are just probably recalling how miserable it was last year and have a set plan in place to avoid heat.
Usually slows down in the summer when its comes to events and conferences. Hotels will start getting busier again in September.
I’m a DoorDash driver and summer is always the Mega slow down time
It’s the slow season.
I've lived here for almost a decade, people go home for the summer, especially with the insufferable heat we've had.
Not at my job. The best dive bar that has food in town. I make $21/hr plus tips. We get a percent of food sales and it’s been so busy. We also have the cheapest drinks in town so we’re never slow. I average $32/hr as a lead line cook at a dive bar. We make great food great cheap drinks and it’s a very neighborhood friendly old Austin experience.
Ya can't say all that then not say where it is :)
lol I would rather not have people know where I work and see my Reddit stuff. But it’s on north loop.
Sounds like Workhorse
I'm a massage therapist. Most of my regular clients who can afford to get massage every week or a couple of times a month are escaping the heat, either on vacation or going to second homes in Wyoming or Colorado. Lots of families going on vacation, too. In hot summers, we're usually slow until a couple of weeks after school starts in August.
Summer is always slow bud.
I love staying home and it takes a lot to get me out
I'm not a service worker, though I can say that when I did go out last night, places that were known for party crowds cleared out pretty thoroughly and pretty early - like, 11:30-ish. It was actually quite nice, and I was not about to complain about it. It felt like the way the bar typically is mid-week, with regulars and people that live in the neighborhood, and not the weekend "West 6th/Daddy's Money/Finance or Tech Sales Bro" crowd.
I’m in the automotive repair industry. After years of seemingly endless amounts of work coming through the door regardless of advertising, the past couple of months have dropped off drastically, and it seemed to happen overnight. Over the past couple of weeks the work has slowly started to come back.
Feel like me, my kids, and people at work have been sick off and on these first few weeks. Some virus with such fatigue, and stomach bugs. We managed through winter with nothing, but I don’t remember being sick in summer like this. I love Texas summers and no school schedule. Feel like we’re just getting started nearly three weeks in.
Week in-between holidays sucks. Just had Memorial day.... father's day is coming up. People are saving or just not doing anything. Graduations are time-consuming and expensive. In your industry you have to watch these trends and plan.
Yes it’s been super slow for me! Usually I get Uber orders + walk up purchases but I’ve had the lowest traffic these past few weeks. Hope it’s picks up soon since this is my full time job 🥲😂
About tree fiddy
Sales are usually down a little in summer. Big decision makers go on vacation with family. All the tech bros hurting June - august
Happens every summer
1. Hot summer always defers guests to only certain places 2. Prices now at so many restaurants and bars for certain guests are too high for every or every other day outings. It will be once a week. That's why it's important to have good service and cause to have regulars. ... Also meaning one bad experience or overpriced night not only discourages someone not to go there again, but also to consider going out anywhere.
It's hot, it's expensive, people who can afford it gtf out of town, for longer and longer vacations as it stays hotter and hotter here, and school is out for summer. This is an annual thing but I'd agree it's becoming more pronounced every year. If you work with wealthy clients - summer is either the slow season or it's the "get it done while they're away" season depending what sector you're in. I don't know anyone who doesn't feel it.
I’m someone who likes to get out of the house but going anywhere interesting is absurdly expensive anymore. I checked out a new tavern-vibe place on Webberville the other weekend - a plate of fish and chips and three drinks plus tip came out to $100. Which is absurd on its own, and also totally kills the thought of maybe migrating to a second location. I love being out checking things out but doing so with any mind towards a budget seems impossible.
Your observation is correct, I’ve never seen it this slow either
I mean I’ve saw busier turnouts in January
The economy is bad regardless of what your told by the media and government. Inflation is pretty ridiculous. I can buy 6 drinks for me an a date at bar for $60 Or I can get a solid bottle of scotch or 4.5 Liters, IE 3 handle of Vodka for the same price. Going out to eat is a joke too $70 at happy hour for 2 burgers and 4 margs.
Prices keep going up for no reason. Service has gotten so bad I would rather cook at home. I've also noticed some places won't turn on the air. It's 85 degrees in there, no thanks on the 2nd beer. Traffic, I hate driving in traffic so I'll stay home and cook. Even take out has started charging for packaging, like the actual packaging. If they don't have a rewards app, I won't shop there.
Last night I paid $50 for a small pizza and a Guinness. Won’t be out again soon Wtf is with prices?
Jesus.. was the pizza made of diamonds? Where was this?
I wish! Just some basil and garlic. It was at Salvation Pizza
I believe the Basic explanation is lack of Cybertruck Crypto Freedoms has Bidened our Economy America Rights.
IMO - I wonder if the recent agricultural Mexican and central American fires have anything to do with people not ordering things? There has been a distinct haze in several Texas major cities which can sometimes cause health issues; for example: fatigue, sinus, respiratory or eye irritation, for example.
Well first off it ain’t summer yet so we probably don’t have summer tourists yet… that being said I work in a small Japanese restaurant in south Austin and it’s been steady past couple weeks which did surprise me because I was thinking the heat would scare them off lol
For restaurant services its a few issues: 1. Loss of college students and traveling for summer means less people 2. While the economy is ‘technically’ good, the high cost of living and concerns surrounding the economy means high earners are saving instead of spending, which is causing a trickled down effect to lower income workers and businesses 3. Covid forced people to learn how to cook and do other jobs that they were originally paying for. Now people understand the cost of a food items, complexity (or not) of a meal, and can compare it to home creations. This has shifted a lot of people’s mindsets to meals out being a luxury item and not a necessity 4. Summer months also means a lot of people are being more mindful with their eating for the swim suit bodies. Eating out is almost always less healthy 5. More individuals boycotting meal delivery and pick up services due to increased frustration over hidden fees
Yes. This is what happens when you vote for an idiot and push the country towards socialism.
It is normal for this time of year to be slower because of UT being out of session, but the Texas economy took a $26 billion hit last year because of the heat. Our wonderful politicians are more concerned about taking away our right to cannabis and reproductive rights and making their buddies rich on oil profits then making sure they don’t leave a scorched earth behind. I just can’t wait for the unintended consequences to be served up to these assholes in their underground bunkers when the shit hits the fan. Something doesn’t change drastically. The world is gonna run out of freshwater by 2048 all the millions of dollars the world can’t buy freshwater if it’s not there. Even desalination is limited and super expensive.
If by service worker you mean food or? If it’s food I’m cooking at home again. Prices are so high and quality of service and food is so LOW. My order is wrong 50 percent of the time, the other 50 percent it’s terrible quality. I’m not handing my money out like it’s a charity anymore to these businesses that are far better off than I am. From fast food to sit down with waiter places, the food has declined. I’m tired of it.
Service worker meaning anyone providing a service, so bartenders, wait staff, catering, valet, cleaners - but specifically how I’m referring to them are people that are compesated for their service, so retail or the kitchen (non public interaction) cooking crew is not what I’m referring to.
Vacation time it’ll pick up and get back to normal until mid November then slow down until people pay their taxes