ELKHART — Attendees got some insight into the restaurant, special occasions and real estate industries during an annual Economic Update hosted by the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce.
The luncheon event featured a panel discussion that included Danny Reynolds, owner of Stephenson’s of Elkhart, Lori Snyder, managing broker with Elkhart and Goshen Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, and Kurt Janowsky, who owns Navarre Hospitality Group. They were joined by Tom Jalics, chief investment strategist at Fifth Third Private Bank.
Panel members talked about trends and signs of recovery they’ve seen in their fields in the last five years.
Reynolds said he’s seen steady growth in the retail industry as it nears the point it was before the 2020 pandemic.
“We are in the clothing business with an emphasis on special occasions. So when the world tells you that you can’t get married for a year or so, then you really, really, really want to get a dress and get married when you’re allowed to,” he said. “We saw some trends change dramatically and then kind of stabilize – we call it the knee-jerk reaction and stabilize – and now I think we’re back to more of a period of steady growth. ... We would call that positive growth back to reality, at least for the special occasion industry.”
He said in terms of spending, he has noticed a little more caution on a day-to-day basis, but people are still happy to splurge on big events.
“I’ve not really noticed any price resistance, but let’s just say a little price awareness. One thing I’ve noticed, the day-to-day shopping is maybe a little bit more cautious and regulated, but people are still splurging on events and occasions, things that matter,” Reynolds said. “I mean, if there’s another thing that happened during the COVID years, is that we all sort of started realizing maybe what matters in life. So some of life’s big events are cherished and people will typically follow their passions with their checkbooks.”
Janowsky said the restaurant industry is also recovering well.
“Sales, we’ll hit $1.1 trillion in restaurants this year. That number was about $875 billion in 2019. So it’s significantly up from pre-COVID,” he said. “Now, part is inflationary, restaurant price increases were mentioned more than once. And those are true.”
He said their challenges have been in cost-control, especially in labor. But he said it’s something his company has tried to embrace, in an effort to dispel the myth that working at a restaurant isn’t a real job.
“A lot of my colleagues in the business will moan a lot about wage growth. I’m actually excited about wage growth in our industry, because it’s been so soft historically,” Janowsky said. “Restaurants were not where you encouraged your children to find a career, because of poor wages and poor benefits.”