You’ve heard the line from that T.S. Eliot poem: April is the cruelest month? Well in New Orleans, that title belongs to September.
School is in session, football is back and with Labor Day behind us the national discourse says summer is over. But in the New Orleans hospitality business, September is the worst of summer.
Everyone knows summer is when tourism and conventions trail off. But managing the seasonal slump has gotten harder. Costs are higher everywhere. The local twist of the knife is the astronomical increase in property costs from the state’s insurance crisis and higher taxes. This hits everybody, cutting into dining out money too.
Then comes summer, and this summer has felt especially slow. The result turns up in the sad drumbeat of restaurant closures.
It all means this is the time when supporting local businesses with intention can do the most good.
This is the time when restaurants need to see their best customers, the returning local regulars who appreciate what these businesses do for the hospitality culture of New Orleans.
That’s what keeps them in the fight right now, and keeps their staff with some semblance of income. My advice is not to take any restaurant you value for granted as they try to navigate these times.
Long term, it will take more than a meal out to change that big picture issues. But right now, even just for the next few weeks, simply dining out or visiting your favorite spot once or twice with intent, will make a tangible difference in someone’s day, someone’s night, and maybe someone’s season.
There are so many good things ahead, between Taylor Swift headed to town, the Super Bowl this winter and big conferences coming back. They’ll bring many people who have heard all about the New Orleans restaurant scene, with its depth and richness.
But here at the bedraggled tail end of summer, it is the locals who have the biggest say in keeping it that way.
