Cities Implementing Vaccine Mandates for Indoor Dining Are Seeing Stable Restaurant Visitation

Since the late summer of 2021, many major U.S. cities have implemented requirements for patrons to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to dine indoors at restaurants. At a time when over one-third of U.S adults remained unvaccinated, the launch of this unprecedented policy was met with concern by many in the restaurant industry. If visitation from these unvaccinated consumers were to be lost entirely, or even fully shifted to less profitable channels like delivery, many restaurant owners rightfully feared that their businesses may fail entirely.

However, new data from Sense360 by Medallia recently revealed that cities implementing vaccine mandates saw little change in the performance of their respective restaurant markets, compared to trends they were experiencing before the policies took effect. This paints an interesting picture around the current and potential future state of the country’s restaurant industry.

A Closer Look at the FindingsFrom the onset of these new…