As thousands of families flock to Baton Rouge to celebrate college graduations and Mother’s Day with loved ones, area restaurants are bracing for a hellacious weekend.
City Pork Hospitality Group co-owner Stephen Hightower says City Pork restaurants across the city started seeing increased business last night that he believed was influenced by the graduation ceremonies, which started today for both LSU and Southern University and will continue through tomorrow.
“Graduations are always one of the biggest days for us,” Hightower says.
He says the restaurant group is expecting high traffic for all three locations in the city, especially the one located on the LSU campus. Overall, he expects business to be double that of a normal weekend.
He also says they’ve been hiring and improving their workforce in preparation for the busy graduation season and the summertime.
Combining the university graduations with the South’s party culture and high school graduations scheduled later this month, Hightower expects the spike in business to carry over the next couple of weeks.
“It shows the impact of the colleges, and the power of LSU and Southern University on the local economy,” Hightower says.
At area Rotolo’s Pizzerias, founder and CEO Mitch Rotolo Sr. expects to see 30% to 40% revenue growth compared to non-event weekends, especially around the LSU area. The profit growth from the graduations, however, come with a catch-22 because business slows down after graduation, Rotolo says.
In preparation for the busy weekend, workers are offered extra shifts and hours and the restaurants make sure to keep extra product on hand to meet customer demands.
