Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The warmer September weather has been a boon for local eateries that have outdoor patio seating. They say it's been quite a switch from earlier in the year.
"If you recall May, May was such a wet and cold month, and I think we may have had the slowest May in our 10 year history," says John Cimperman of 42 North in East Aurora. "But the weather really turned nice in June, July, August, and now into September, we've had some of the best months, as far as revenue and guests that we've had in our in our 10 year history."
Cimperman adds people are coming down to the south towns, looking at the leaves and going on fall hikes this time of year, already making it busy. "But it's really this bonus of two, three weeks of late September, that we saw a lot of new faces, not only in the village of East Aurora but obviously in the beer garden in our tap room down here," adds Cimperman.
Cimperman says warmer weather gets people into a better mood and more willing to go out. Conor Hawkins of The Banshee downtown agrees. "When they feel good, they want to come out and have a cocktail or a bite to eat. And it's nicer having the extra tables outside on the patio, because then we can fit a few more people into the restaurant," explains Hawkins.
Hawkins says the warm weather's been great as downtown gets busier. "Last weekend was excellent with the Saints fans in town all wanting to sit outside and kind of eat food and try the chicken wings and Irish favorites, and that was wonderful. It's been really helpful. With a very busy start shade and 710 theater, people have been wanting to sit out there too," says Hawkins. He note more older people feel comfortable sitting out in the patio. "We're five and a half years on from COVID, but older people kind of still have that the back of their heads," says Hawkins.
Hawkins estimates the good weather streak has increased business 20 percent. "It's not huge numbers, but it's anything we can get downtown is fantastic. We've seen the people have been coming in, most is probably the business people who are working downtown. It's just nice weather. They're coming out and having a drink or two after work, they have an appetizer or two, then will make that all day long," adds Hawkins.
Both say they'll savor the weather and keep things open as long as they can. "We're hoping for a few more weeks, maybe we can get it to go up until October with the Halloween festivities. That'd be awesome. But, I don't think that's going to happen," says Hawkins. "We don't hold our breath in Western New York, because the weather can change on a day's notice. But we're going to keep our our beer garden active and programmed with live music whenever we can," says Cimperman.