The global economic crisis is having a negative impact on middle class restaurants in the Eastern Province, with many restaurant owners reporting a decline in business for the past month. Restaurants catering to middle-income families are the worst hit, due to the fact that their prices have been increased in order to cope with the rising cost of food. The increase in food prices has compelled several restaurants in the city to hike their prices over the past month, with some of them increasing prices by 20 to 25 percent. A member of the staff of a popular Pakistani restaurant said that the number of customers has decreased dramatically over the past three weeks. He attributed the decline to the fact that more and more families are reducing their spending due to the economic crisis and to the fact that the restaurant had recently increased its prices by about 20 percent. The manager of a well-known Asian restaurant told Saudi Gazette that business has declined by about 20 percent during the past month. “Business has been dull over the past few months. We have less customers these days, particularly families. Prices of all our dishes have gone up, and people are now not eating out as much as they used to,” said the manager of a middle class restaurant in Al-Khobar. The owner of a newly opened Arabic restaurant in Jubail had a similar comment. “Our business is down by 15 to 25 percent since the beginning of January. Before our prices increased, we normally got a number of party orders, but now that business has declined dramatically. We are also losing many of our regular customers,” he said. But those restaurants who cater to low-income groups are still attracting customers with their low prices. “Many people have become more concerned about the economy and no longer want to spend SR75 for dinner at a restaurant,” said Sabik, an Indian expatriate who usually dines out with his family once a week. The manager of a well-known Indian restaurant in Dammam, which opened a family section recently, said, “We have not seen a fall in the number of customers, but people are now spending less when they visit the restaurant. They avoid ordering soups and soft drinks. In order to reduce expenses, many families are also cutting down the number of dishes they order.”
