COLUMBUS, Ohio — There are a high number of restaurants expecting to open in Columbus this year. 

According to officials with the Ohio Restaurant and Hospitality Alliance, the first quarter of 2023 saw more openings than closings since the pandemic. 

Despite some longtime Columbus restaurants shutting down in 2023, there is a restaurant industry rebound. 

“I think it’s a cross section of America in a way that you have a big city, but then you have just right around it a lot of nice, smaller suburbs and then not too far from it you have basically rural areas and farmland and so you have a nice mix,” said John Barker, president and CEO of the Ohio Restaurant and Hospitality Alliance.

Barker said Central Ohio has always been a place for people to open restaurants dating all the way back to the early days when many, such as Donatos and Wendy’s, were founded there.

“So if you’re a restaurant business and you’re trying to grow and have the opportunity to service all different types of consumers, Columbus is a nice melting pot,” Barker said.

Barker also said that having a growing population and a large university makes Columbus an attractive market for restaurants.

Ilias Strovolidis owns four restaurants throughout Central Ohio, serving a variety of cuisines, from Greek and Italian to wood-fired pizzas. 

“I think Columbus is growing so fast and there’s so many people, the diversity and the real estate is not as expensive as other big cities and I think it makes it really attractive to start a business, especially a restaurant, in Columbus, Ohio,” Strovolidis said.

Along with the diversity of people comes diverse food options. 

“One of the things we’re starting to notice here in Columbus is more trends, more exotic types of flavors, and you’re starting to see all kinds of ethnic restaurants continue to grow,” Barker said.

However, it doesn’t come without its challenges. Managing rising costs has been one factor leading to restaurant closures in the industry.

“Last year was difficult because we’re really sitting on top of about a 25% increase in food costs over the last three years and it’s very difficult to manage. That’s nowhere near anything we’ve seen in history, at least modern history. You also have labor costs up over 20% in the last three years,” Barker said.

Strovolidis has been an established restaurant owner for years and said competitiveness in the industry hasn’t been an issue, but something that is a concern is menu prices. 

“Every week something goes up. And not like a little bit, like you’re talking about $20-30 dollars more on a case of chicken wings, for example,” Strovolidis said.

Barker said the pandemic was another driving factor forcing some restaurants to close. 

“We lost a lot of mom-and-pop restaurants over the last couple years. The pandemic really made it difficult and focused what has to happen. For restaurants, had to do a lot of shifting during the pandemic and had to do takeout and more delivery and all that,” Barker said.

Regardless of the closings in 2023, Barker is hopeful for 2024. 

“In the state of Ohio we have about 24,000 locations that are considered restaurants, food service of some type. And that continues to grow, so that’s exciting,” Barker said.

Barker said one trend people will be seeing more of in 2024 is the incorporation of more technology. He said this will help combat the staffing shortage. 

“It’s very difficult to get enough employees today. We have just a shortage of people who are working and that’s probably not going to change based on all of the data that we see, so restaurants are trying to figure out a way to do certain parts of their hospitality with technology,” Barker said.