Center City Philadelphia

Contact Information:
Linda K. Harris, Director of Communications
lharris@centercityphila.org
215.440.5546

Center City Reports: Outdoor Cafes: 2011 | 4 pgs | Free | PDF (576 KB)

Center City’s Sidewalk Cafes and Restaurants Boost Downtown Economic Growth

(October 25, 2011) The success of restaurants and cafes in Center City are a continuing sign of the vitality of the downtown, based on both the results of September’s Center City District Restaurant Week and an earlier summer count of outdoor cafes.

The CCD’s Fall Restaurant Week, which occurred between September 12-16 and September 18-23, was actively supported by 119 restaurants, the overwhelming number of whom experienced very positive results:

• 68% of the restaurants saw an increase in sales over the same two weeks last year, which were also during Restaurant Week.

• Participating restaurants saw 165,638 patrons for dinner during the two weeks and 28,067 patrons for lunch, for a grand total of 193,705 diners during the entire two weeks.

• September’s promotion generated $11 million in expenditures from downtown workers, visitors, and dwellers, as well as from residents from across the region. Since its inception in 2003, Center City District Restaurant Week has generated over $102 million in expenditures.

Similarly, the CCD’s 11th annual report on outdoor cafes, 2011 Center City Reports: Outdoor Cafes, counted in July, shows a 10% increase in the number of outdoor cafes since 2010, for a record 235 separate locations in the Center City Core, between Pine and Vine Streets and from the Delaware River to 22d Street. This represents 241% more cafes than the 69 that existed in summer of 2001, the first year the CCD counted the number of outdoor cafes.

Again this year, the CCD counted outdoor cafes from Pine to South Streets and between the Delaware River and 24th Street, and found there were 38 outdoor cafes in this area, a 3% increase over 2010 in this area, bringing the entire number of outdoor cafes in Center City to 273.

At least a portion of the success of the restaurants and sidewalk cafes in Center City can be attributed to the 10.2% increase in downtown’s population between 2000 and 2010, as young professionals and empty-nesters increasingly have been choosing downtown as the preferred place to live. The results of the 2010 census are documented in Leading the Way: Population Growth Downtown, also a CCD report.

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The Center City District, a private-sector sponsored business improvement district dedicated to making Center City Philadelphia clean, safe and attractive, is committed to maintaining Center City’s competitive edge as a regional employment center, a quality place to live, and a premier regional destination for dining, shopping and cultural attractions.