Friday night I was having dinner at a wonderful restaurant in downtown Los Angeles.  It's called Provecho , a modern, upscale Mexican experience, and it was started by a former graduate student of mine and her chef husband.  Now you would think that downtown Los Angeles would be hopping on a Friday night, but no.  You could find more people at upscale restaurants in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on any night of the week than you'll find at the terrific restaurants in downtown Los Angeles. 

Restaurants around the country are seeing huge declines in business.  In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Julie Jargon reported that restaurant owner Tony Romano of Marcello's Pasta Grill in Tempe, Arizona has seen business drop by 40% over the past two years.  Overall (see the chart), same-store sales are off about 10% for chain restaurants and about 9% for independents from last year.

So what's a restaurant owner to do?  It seems that many owners are turning to barter exchanges to swap food for services such as pest control and remodeling because it keeps their restaurants busier.  Trades people use their food credits at the restaurant and voilá, the restaurant no longer looks so empty.  Tony Romano has joined the Arizona Trade Exchange and now is seeing $2,000 a week in trade credits coming in.Of course, barter is not going to keep a restaurant in business, but it will help to make the restaurant look busy, so people will want to come in.  Romano has found that his traffic has increased 10% in the past month. 

Another approach to making it through these tough times is the one that Provecho is using.  They're taking advantage of the proximity of a major university and some big companies to host parties and events in their beautiful facilities.  As we've always said, when times are tough, it's the entrepreneurs who think out of the box who manage to make it to the other side unscathed. So whether you choose to join a barter exchange or offer some new services to get more people to your restaurant, do something now!  It just may make the difference.