Been cooped up too long?
All the stimulus money you saved burning a hole in your pocket?
Dreaming about your favorite surf and turf entrée at a nice restaurant in the French Quarter?
So has everybody else.
The pent up demand to go out to dinner has resulted in an explosion of dining traffic across the country.
According to marketing research firm Zenreach, San Jose, California is seeing a 192% jump in dining numbers.
"Right now is a very unusual time for our restaurant industry," says Wendy Waren with the Louisiana Restaurant Association. "Considering that it's summer and we usually see a dip in traffic.
In New Orleans, where it's supposed to be the off-season, it's enjoying a modest 32% gain in traffic over January.
"The pent up demand of folks coming out of the pandemic, and quite honestly having some money saved up that they may not have spent all of those months, is really getting people out and into restaurants," Waren says.
Waren says the Association has a number of events going on as part of their Coolinary festival:
"Coolinary, New Orleans is going on right now. Our partners at New Orleans and Company have about 80 restaurants that are participating offer special prix fixe menus at different price points to attract different budget levels."
So let's say you're new to the region. Now's your chance to bust loose and experience New Orleans cuisine and make many new friends while you're at it.
"We have a lot of people who have moved to the City in the last few years that have bucket lists," Waren says. "And these are great times to experience your restaurants that are on your list to go check out."
