Vancouver restaurant sales boom during Olympics

VANCOUVER — Restaurant sales are booming in the downtown Vancouver during the first week of the Vancouver Olympics, sales statistics show.

Restaurant sales in the downtown core of Vancouver are up 89 per cent during the Olympics; Yaletown district sales jumped a whopping 128 per cent, according to sales figures from Vivonet, a Vancouver software company that processes millions of transactions a month in the hospitality and retail sectors across North America.

The increases are based on comparisons to sales from the same period last year, Feb. 12 to 21.

Whistler experienced a 44-per-cent jump in restaurant sales, the company’s president and CEO, Ryan Volberg, said Monday.

"The thing that’s really remarkable about our data is it’s highly reliable – it’s true dollars," he said, adding previous sales estimates were either anecdotal or based on Visa sales, which do not account for all transactions.

He said full-service restaurants, which are defined as restaurants serving sit-down meals with waiter service, did not fare as well as limited service restaurants, which include fast-food and have the ability to turn over more customers.

Limited service restaurants generally did almost double the business of full-service eateries in downtown Vancouver.

Restaurant sales were up across B.C. and even nationally, although sales were found to be flat in the Prairies, the company research found.

Similarly, transaction figures show that suburban restaurant sales were down slightly and had slipped .2 per cent in the Broadway corridor of Vancouver, which Vivonet defines as starting at Main and Terminal, includes Fourth Avenue and extends to the University of B.C.

Gastown restaurant sales are up 71 per cent, compared with those in the West End, which saw only a 20-per-cent increase in sales, the company said.

Based on his own experience during the Olympics, Volberg said restaurants showing the Olympics on TV tend to do better than those that don’t because most customers want to take in sporting events and medal ceremonies.

"My wife and children tried to find a place to eat and watch the Canada [hockey] game Sunday," he recalled, adding they found every restaurant in Yaletown was packed. The family went to Gastown and eventually ate at Incendio because it had a TV, Volberg said.

"Every single person I’ve talked to has corroborated what I’ve said," he added.

Volberg said his company will continue to monitor the Olympic impact during the last week of and immediately following the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. "Our next data analysis will closely track issues like Olympic fatigue," he said.

Ian Tostenson, president of the B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association, said Vivonet’s figures clearly show that "if you’re in the general area of the Olympics, you’re doing well."

Some restaurants in the high-traffic zones are reporting sales increases of between 300 and 400 per cent, he said.

"If you’re within a venue area, the biggest challenge you’ll have is keeping up with the demand," Tostenson said. "Prepare as much ahead as possible, without sacrificing your quality."

He said he went to a restaurant in North Vancouver and found the Olympics were being shown on the TV but he left disappointed because the sound was turned off and music was playing.

Tostenson said there seem to be more diners paying attention to the Games than those not interested. "You’ve got to be creative and engage people."

He said he was also pleased that restaurants in some parts of Vancouver appear to have flat but stable sales.

"It seems to be stable because so many people are out," he said.

He added: "I think a lot of people are getting takeout and going home to watch the Games on their big-screen TVs."

nhall@vancouversun.com