Cities that Sizzle

Nation's Restaurant News,  Jan, 2001  

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FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ.

(2001 estimates, except as noted; growth rates are est. 2001 vs. est. 1999, except as noted)

Population: 134,630, +3.23%

Population growth, est. 1999 vs. 1990: +28.16%

2006 population forecast: 136,857

Disposable income: $2.22 billion, +12.12%

Household income: $52,263, +7.74%

Per-capita income: $16,537, +9.14%

Eating-and-drinking place sales (1999): $120.9 million

No. of foodservice & drinking places (1997): 319

Foodservice & drinking place payroll (1997): $50.0 million

No. of foodservice & drinking place employees (1997): 5,506

No. of residents per foodservice & drinking place (1997): 376

Hourly minimum wage: $5.15

Employers' tip-credit allowance: $2.11

State and local sales tax: 9.31%, including 5.8% state and county tax, 1.51% city tax and 2% surtax on hotels, restaurants and bars

Annual economic impact of travel and tourism: est. $130 million

Local unemployment rate: 3.5% for Flagstaff, 4.4% for metropolitan area, as of Oct. 2000

Sources: U.S. Dept. of Commerce; U.S. Census Bureau; Editor & Publisher Market Guide; NRN Research.

Fort Myers, Fla.

James Peters

Winter is hottest time of year for restaurant industry as snowbirds make annual trip south

At this very moment in Fort Myers, as with the rest of Florida, a breed known as the snowbird makes up a significant amount of the population.

For the uninitiated, the standard dictionary defines a snowbird as one who travels to a warm climate for the winter.

To further school those still not hip to the slang for this common specimen, Lee Rose pretty much nails it.

"It's the retired couple from Michigan who has a second home down here and spends maybe two, three or four months," says Rose, the communications coordinator for the Lee Island Coast Visitor and Convention Bureau. Lee County, which comprises Fort Myers and seven other cities, is approximately 120 miles south of Tampa.

And when the flocks of snowbirds flee the headache-gray Midwestern winters to migrate south for a few months, they flap up a gale-force surge of spending for the Fort Myers economy.

"The hottest time is the winter because the snow birds are coming in," says developer Dominick Goertz, owner of the Patio de Leon Land Trust, which he created as part of the push to revitalize downtown Fort Myers. "No question about it."

During the prime-time span from December to April, restaurant operators in the area reap the rewards from the older crowd's habit of dining out frequently.

"The majority of my clientele is from gated communities, and this is the land of gated communities," says Ed Vozzella, general manager and head chef of the University Grill in Fort Myers.

Vozzella also serves as corporate chef of University Grill's parent company, Sanibel Majik Inc., which operates 10 upscale-casual concepts in Florida, including the Prawn Broker restaurant in Fort Myers. His University Grill generates more than 50 percent of its night business from the gated-community population. "To eat out three or four nights a week is extremely common," he says.