Eateries expect growth in new year

Alicia Robinson

Restaurants in the area are expected to go the way of the American

waistline and keep on expanding in 2004, following and possibly

surpassing a predicted national trend.

Restaurants in Orange County expect sales to grow by 10% in 2004,

said Ed Lee, vice president of the Orange County chapter of the

California Restaurant Assn. and real estate director for Wahoo’s Fish

Tacos.

“[Wahoo’s is] expecting sales to have at least between 6% to 8%

growth in 2004, and that’s being conservative,” Lee said. “The

economy’s really good.”

Costa Mesa-based Wahoo’s plans to open five or six stores next

year; only one of them will be in Orange County. Lee expects to

develop stores in cities as far away as Fresno, San Jose and Las

Vegas, he said.

Local expectations exceed the 4.4% national growth and the 5.2%

growth in California predicted by the National Restaurant Assn.,

which released its projections last week.

In Costa Mesa, restaurants generate roughly $260,000 in sales tax

revenue for the city each quarter, which is about 3% of the city’s

total sales tax collections, city Finance Director Marc Puckett said.

“We have some very strong restaurants in the community that do

significantly contribute to the community,” he said.

Several new restaurants opened in Newport Beach in 2003, and there

are more to come in 2004, said Peggy Fort, Newport Beach Restaurant

Assn. spokeswoman.

The industry suffered when people cut back on travel and dining

after Sept. 11, 2001, but Newport Beach was less affected, perhaps

because of special offerings such as the boat parade, Fort said.

“I think that in general, Newport Beach is very well known for our

dining and our restaurant selections,” she said. “As a city, we

obviously have a lot of waterfront dining, and it’s almost like a

destination to go out and dine in our city.”

A testament to the success of restaurants in the area is the

Irvine Co.’s Bluffs Shopping Center, an open-air development that was

planned to include about 60% of the space as eating establishments

and the remainder as stores. Typical shopping centers contain about

15% to 20% restaurant space.

The Irvine Co. also has plans to open at least two new restaurants

at both Fashion Island and Newport Coast shopping center next year,

spokeswoman Nina Robinson said.

With holiday celebrations and special events keeping restaurants

busy into January, the financial picture for the industry is looking

rosy.

But Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce President Richard Luehrs

said business owners are wary about unsolved problems with

unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation and the state’s

long-term electrical contracts.

“There continues to still be a problem in that the cost of doing

business is significantly higher than it was a year ago,” he said.

“This is a very critical time for business owners in the state of

California, not only for restaurant owners.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She can be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.