Downtown Cleveland has about 300 restaurants and cafes to serve the area’s growing population and tourism trade. Downtown officials are not concerned that more eateries will over-saturate that market.
The head of economic development for the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, Michael Deemer, says 15 new restaurants will open in the city’s center this year. He says there are always some closings in downtown’s restaurant scene, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem at this point.
“We expect to see some churn in the restaurant business, in any market its still a tough business to be in. But I think the healthy sign from our perspective is that as soon as a place may close, there are restaurateurs lining up to replace it. And I think that’s the signal of a very healthy market.”
Deemer says downtown should avoid restaurant saturation as long as residency keeps growing. Downtown's population is expected to increase by about 2,000 this year to 16,000. Other keys in sustaining the restaurants are continued growth in downtown employment and tourism.
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