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Doable restaurant closures are looming over eateries within the nation’s capital.
Forty-four p.c of full-service informal eating places that function in Washington, D.C. reported shutting their doorways was “very” or “somewhat likely” in 2025, a Restaurant Affiliation Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) survey indicated.
Native media outlet WJLA reported on the survey, performed amongst 217 eating places within the DC-area from Jan. 24 to Feb. 11, and printed a RAMW doc detailing its findings.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 19: The U.S. Capitol is proven at dawn the day earlier than President-elect Donald Trump’s 2nd time period inauguration January 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) (Joe Raedle/Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
The danger of these eating places shuttering comes as “rising costs and tipped wage increases outpace revenue,” the survey stated.
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Smaller proportions of surveyed D.C.-area fast-casual and suburban eating places warned of doable closures this 12 months, at 15% and 23%, respectively, in response to the RAMW.
The survey discovered practically half of eating places of every kind within the space noticed their gross sales drop final 12 months. In the meantime, 62% of respondents introduced in smaller income.
Prices have been a ache level for D.C. eating places, with 68% contending with greater foods and drinks bills, in response to the RAMW survey. Greater than 4 in 5 eateries anticipate their prices will worsen because the 12 months progresses.
The RAMW stated within the doc printed by WJLA that the survey general “shows an industry struggling simultaneously with falling sales and customer traffic, escalating food cost, major federal layoffs, and the ongoing impact of tipped wage increases.”
FROM RETURN-TO-OFFICE TO FEDERAL LAYOFFS, HOW TRUMP POLICIES ARE AFFECTING DC HOUSING MARKET: REPORT
Roughly 49% of DC eating places skilled fewer clients visiting their institutions final 12 months as some residents have chosen to eat meals at dwelling to keep away from excessive prices, the survey discovered.
The potential of tariffs, new immigration insurance policies and different components impacting enterprise have additionally been weighing on the minds of eating places within the metropolis, in response to RAMW.
The minimal wage required for tipped employees in DC rising $2 to an hourly $12 at first of July as the town seeks to make that the identical as its general minimal wage over the following few years. That upcoming improve, in response to the RAMW, may push the variety of restaurant closures a lot greater.
The District of Columbia additionally ranked excessive within the listing of prime locations to do business from home. (iStock / iStock)
“Our District’s full-service restaurants – the gathering places that define neighborhoods and create the cultural fabric of our city – are facing a historic combination of pressures,” RAMW CEO Shawn Townsend was quoted as saying. “The data illustrates multiple substantial burdens converging at once, threatening not just single businesses but potentially altering DC’s distinctive dining landscape.”
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DC is dwelling to greater than 2,600 eating places and a few 66,400 restaurant and foodservice jobs, in response to the Nationwide Restaurant Affiliation.
The business within the metropolis generates $7.7 billion in restaurant and foodservice gross sales.
Nationally, the restaurant business is anticipated to see $1.5 trillion in gross sales this 12 months, the Nationwide Restaurant Affiliation estimated early final month.
