Business is back.
After another slow summer, many Westwood Village restaurants and
bars are gearing up for another busy year. The catalyst for the
businesses: thousands of UCLA students have flooded back into the
Village.
But business may be dampened by a recent 30 percent fee increase
for University of California students.
Though some restaurant owners were unwilling to speculate the
effect fee increases will have on business, California Pizza
Kitchen manager Alavaro Garcia said that as a “rule of thumb,
when finances are tight, people eat out less.”
Acapulco manager Robert Martinez said students might also be
wary of eating out because of a poor economy ““
California’s unemployment rate has risen above 6.6
percent.
“People aren’t comfortable to go out ““ they
want to save money,” he said.
Regardless of students’ financial situations, restaurant
operators attributed the relative emptiness of Westwood during the
past few months to school being out of session.
“You have to expect that literally thousands of your
customers go away (for summer),” said Steve Sann, co-founder
of the Westwood Village Business Association.
Even newcomer Chili’s acknowledged the phenomena.
“Since we are near a college town, you can expect that
when students leave town, sales go down,” said Chili’s
manager Randy Raneses.
Chili’s opened its first store in Westwood shortly before
school recessed in June. Raneses said once summer hit, consumer
activity declined rapidly and considerably.
Both Acapulco and California Pizza Kitchen said summer sales
were 10 percent lower than spring.
“But that’s what we expect; it’s no
surprise,” said California Pizza Kitchen manager Mary Jo
Owen.
The cyclical nature of Westwood business activity is a strain
for many who own or manage businesses in the area.
All businesses, including bars and restaurants, want to optimize
their labor costs. When business decreases, so to does the need for
labor.
For students working at restaurants in Westwood, summer meant
shorter shifts and less income.
But now that fall quarter has begun at UCLA, restaurant owners
expect sales to improve ““ historically, fall totals are
higher than summer ““Â which is a relief for those waiting
tables in the Village.
It’s also a relief for restaurant owners, like Jeff McNeal
of Damon & Pythias.
“Any small business wants to be busy. If you are not busy,
it makes it very difficult to pay the bills,” he said.
But some students said that due to student fee increases, they
are less likely to eat out, opting to stay home and save money.
“I cook 20 cups of rice on Monday and eat it “˜til
Friday,” fifth-year sociology student Peter Liu said
jokingly.
Liu covers his own fees, but students whose parents financially
support them also said they cannot afford to eat out.
“I am more conservative because of (the fee
increase),” said Lynn Kiang, a third-year psychology
student.