Philly Restaurants: City Wants to Know How Bad Things Were During Pope Francis

We’ve heard a lot of testimony from Philadelphia restaurateurs about how their businesses were affected by the Pope Francis visit, or, perhaps, by how the city handled the Pope Francis visit. And now City Controller Alan Butkovitz is asking restaurants — and hotels and shops as well — just how bad was it?

Butkovitz has published a poll via Google Docs that asks owners to respond to a variety of questions about the number of customers, amount of revenue, and how the Nutter administration’s decisions affected their business. (Note, he does not ask local business owners to address the media’s responsibility in the mess.)

In a statement released on Tuesday, based on some preliminary information, Butkovitz said that restaurants reported that their business saw about 45 percent of a normal weekend’s business activity, while retailers came in at 21 percent. Hoteliers experienced 88 percent of the occupancy that they’d experience on a typical weekend, according to the early information released by Butkovitz.

“Several restaurants stated they were the hardest hit because they stocked up on supplies over the course of the week only to find that the demand never materialized,” he said in the statement, adding that the $500 million in economic impact initially estimated “may not have been achieved.”

You think?

Two of the city’s biggest restaurateurs — Marc Vetri and Stephen Starr — have been very outspoken about the negative impact on their businesses during Pope Francis weekend. One major Stephen Starr restaurant reportedly did less than $300 in sales in one day. And we’ve spoken with several smaller restaurateurs who did precisely zero in sales at various mealtimes throughout the the papal visit.

The restaurant owners have, for the most part, made it clear that they think that Pope Francis coming to Philadelphia was a great thing for the city overall but that City Hall basically screwed them out of customers and revenue and their employees out of tips.

It’s one thing for the papal pilgrims to watch their spending and pack lunches, but why did locals stay away, leaving wide open dining rooms all over town? The smart money is on City Hall screwing up the message.

If you want to participate in the poll, go here.