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By Ed Moosbrugger

Last of three parts

June 10 -- Downtown Santa Monica restaurants have been put on a leaner diet because of a tough economy that has been difficult to digest, with restaurants counting themselves fortunate if they can capture even small increases in sales.

At the well known Border Grill on 4th Street, month-to-month business has been flat or just above last year, reported Doug Rausenberger, regional manager for Border Grill and Ciudad.

“I’m happy with that,” he said, noting that many restaurants have suffered downturns. “We’re doing well.”

March, however, was a down month for Border Grill.

Restaurants have been hit by a variety of things, including a soft economy, higher gas prices and, for some, the recent closure of Santa Monica Place for a major remodeling.

“I think business right now is a little slow,” said Roman Cortes, general manager of Broadway Deli on the Third Street Promenade.

“It’s a little bit of everything,” including the weak economy and recent demolition work at Santa Monica Place across the street, Cortes said.

Business is about the same as last year at Barney’s Beanery on the Promenade, said co-owner David Houston.

“I don’t know why,” Houston said. “You get to a certain point where you can’t do more. You can’t be much more full than we are.”

At Yankee Doodles on the Promenade, sales are up over last year but not by much, said Stuart Montalvo, director of operations.

“This month is looking very good,’ he said in mid May.

Although Yankee Doodles is showing gains, it is nothing like the previous two years when the restaurant/sports bar posted double-digit increases.

Based on results so far, Montalvo said Yankee Doodles probably will score a sales gain of 2 to 4 percent this year. He noted that in the restaurant industry, that kind of gain is good.
Much will depend on summer business, he said.

If high gasoline prices keep people closer to home this summer, it could bring added business to a local destination such as the Promenade if people take more weekend and day trips to the pier and beach rather than going out of town, he said.

Places such as Barney’s Beanery and Yankee Doodles where people gather to watch sports on TV depend partly on how local teams do. The strong year for the Lakers has helped.
The Summer Olympics in August should provide a boost.

Some restaurants have special plans for summer.

Border Grill will hold a summer grilling cooking class at the restaurant on June 7, led by celebrity chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. The restaurant also has special plans for Father’s Day and is working on a margarita dinner in July.

In addition to the weak economy, local eating places have had to cope with rising costs.
Broadway Deli raised bakery prices recently after the cost of flour more than tripled. But prices were not raised on the restaurant side, Cortes said.

Some restaurants made price adjustments in January but seem to be holding the line for now.
“We look at the menu once a year, in January,” Montalvo said. “We’ve been very modest in our increases, and I want to keep it that way.”

At Border Grill, “we are essentially just sucking it up,” Rausenberger said. We try to create repeat business. We are trying to ride it out and be predictable to customers.”

Business is good, he said, because “we are upscale but approachable from a price standpoint.”

Downtown restaurants continue to count on business from tourists.

Visitors from outside Los Angeles County spent $217 million on meals and $67 million on beverages in Santa Monica for the year 2006/07, according to a report from the Santa Monica Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Reflecting the importance of tourists, Border Grill gets about 40 percent of its customers through referrals from local hotels, Rausenberger said.

Its bread and butter, however, is Westside residents within five to 10 miles of the restaurant.
Cortes of Broadway Deli is a bit concerned about the tourist trade.

“We don’t see as many tourists as in past years,” he said, and there is not as much night business. Broadway Deli has twice as much business during the day than at night.

Yankee Doodles is still getting a good amount of business from tourists and a majority of business on the Promenade is at night, Montalvo said.

At Barney’s Beanery, business is split about 50/50 between day and night, Houston said.
Border Grill would like to increase lunch business, which fluctuates, while night business is more consistently strong, Rausenberger said.

Meanwhile, many new dining and drinking places have opened throughout Downtown recently and more are coming.

“A lot of these places have been in the pipeline for a long time,” said Robert O. York, a consultant for the Bayside District Corp. “For the most part, they are very good operators with unique concepts.”

Among those coming soon, York said, are Anisette in the clock tower building and Hans Rockenwagner’s bakery and cafe on Arizona Avenue.