Restaurant industry bounces back, fills jobs

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In nearly every corner of the Miami Valley during 2010, vacant buildings that once housed restaurants sprang back to life as new eateries.

At least 18 restaurants either opened or launched significant renovations in the Dayton area in locations that had been lifeless for six months or more during 2010.

Jarrod Clabaugh, spokesman for the Ohio Restaurant Association, said pent-up demand from budding restaurateurs who, until recently, were unable to obtain business loans because commercial credit was so tight may be fueling the resurgence.

Recent data from the National Restaurant Association shows job creation in the restaurant industry outpacing the overall economy.

Employment in restaurants and bars increased 1.5 percent in the one-year period ending in November, the “strongest 12-month gain we’ve seen in nearly three years,” while overall U.S. employment increased only 0.6 percent over the same period, Clabaugh said.

While a certain amount of turnover is customary in the volatile restaurant industry, the most recent surge is notable for the length of time some of the former restaurants had been vacant before the region’s newest entrepreneurs rejuvenated them. Restaurants in Miamisburg and Springboro that had been closed since 2007 reopened in the summer of 2010, and two more restaurants in downtown Dayton and Centerville that shut their doors in 2008 also reopened this year.

“From an economic development standpoint, when other parties see people investing in vacant properties, it builds confidence that the climate is improving, and it spurs other economic activity in the neighborhood,” said Chris Kershner, vice president of public policy and economic development for the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.