‘Our business has dropped 50%:’ Downtown Orlando restaurants struggling amid drop in foot traffic

ORLANDO, Fla. – As WKMG Hits the Road to downtown Orlando this week, some business owners told us they’re hoping others will do the same.

On the first floor of the Chase building along Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando is where you’ll find Nifty’s Korean BBQ and Ramen. Helen So and her husband have been in business for seven years – just the two of them. Helen takes the orders and serves customers while her husband cooks the food.

“It’s not just one item, but all throughout the menu it’s the same person cooking,” So said. “The same person cooking means the food is consistent.”

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The Sos’ authentic Korean cuisine, though, may be the only thing that’s consistent right now.

“I used to be busy during lunchtime, but now our business has dropped 50%,” So said. “As a business owner, we are very worried if your sales drop this much.”

She says it’s never been this slow, even during COVID. They used to be open until 9 p.m., but now close at 6:30 p.m.. In her eyes, not enough people are willing to come downtown.

“People already have the notion that it’s dangerous to come downtown because of all the news that’s out there about gun violence,” So said. “The homeless problem as well. Every time someone’s walking down the street, they get hit by the homeless people for a dollar or two or whatever, and it’s a nuisance.”

The cost of parking and inconvenience of finding a spot are extra burdens for customers, according to So, especially in the current economic climate with inflation making everything more expensive. At Nifty’s, though, menu prices have stayed the same.

“Even though my ingredients have gone up after COVID at least 30-40%, I’m still charging the same prices,” So said. “I can’t change my prices because if I do, maybe the person who can come twice a week can only afford to come once a week. It’s not going to increase my sales.”

So pointed to Hamburger Mary’s closing its downtown location after 16 years as an example of how things have changed. A post on the restaurant’s social media page said, “The hustle and bustle of downtown Orlando has given way to a sleepy city with few people working downtown.” Other nearby store fronts are also vacant along Church Street.

David Barilla, executive director of Orlando’s Downtown Development Board and Community Redevelopment Agency, told News 6 the city is aware of the difficulties some businesses are facing.

“We’re constantly communicating with our businesses,” Barilla said. “We understand that there are challenges in any economic climate, but also ones that are going through a transition.”

That transition is the city’s DTO 2.0 initiative, which is an effort to shift downtown from a business hub into a neighborhood. Barilla said revitalizing Church Street is a key component.

“We’ve got some new programs to incentivize business to come in,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate Blue Wave Sushi opened and they’ve been doing tremendously well. We had Bao Spot open recently with some of our assistance. We’re talking to some more individuals to add them to the mix, but having a distinct focus on Church Street is absolutely at the top of our agenda.”

News 6 talked to several other restaurants in the downtown area about how business has been. The majority of them said foot traffic has been dropping this year, citing similar challenges as So.

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