Big Blue Democrat Cities... Failing In Every Metric... Restaurants In Lockdown-Loving, High-Crime Cities Still Reeling While Others Thrive https://www.opentable.com/about/ https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/restaurants-deep-blue-cities-starved-diner... More than two and a half years after the Covid-19 pandemic reached America, there's a enormous divide among America's restaurant markets. In deep-blue cities that embraced lockdowns, the number of diners is still far below pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, restaurant businesses are prospering in states that were quickest to reject Covidian authoritarianism. That's the finding of a Fox News report centered on data from OpenTable, a company that helps more than 60,000 restaurants worldwide manage reservations, payments and operations. Civil unrest and crime have likely played a defining role too. It's probably no coincidence that the worst-performing city -- Minneapolis -- was at the epicenter of the George Floyd riots that ravaged deep-blue cities. Strikingly, the number of average daily diners in Minneapolis is still less than half what the city enjoyed in pre-Covid, pre-Floyd 2019. "We’re just getting killed in Minneapolis," restauranteur Greg Urban told Fox News. "People don’t feel safe. They don’t feel safe coming to Minneapolis. It’s a public safety issue right now." Happily, Urban is geographically -- and politically -- diversified, with nightspots in Austin, Pensacola and Lakeland, Florida too. The 10 worst cities represent a who's who of cringe-inducing, high-crime, vaccination-forcing, mask-adoring metropolises, with the likes of San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Philadelphia rounding out the top five losers. Meanwhile, the list of the 10 best-performing restaurant cities includes four from Florida which, under Governor DeSantis, helped set an example that emboldened other red-state governors to shift policies and begin rising out of the depths of public health madness. Underscoring a clear Sunbelt trend, Texas and Arizona placed two cities apiece. 10 Worst Lockdown-Hammered Restaurant Cities (Change in Daily Diners: July 2022 vs July 2019) Minneapolis (-54.3%) San Francisco (-45.9%) Portland (-45.2%) Seattle (-40.8%) Philadelphia (-39.2%) New York (-37.9%) St. Louis (-28.2%) Washington, DC (-27.3%) Baltimore (-24.9%) Chicago (-22.8%) 10 Best-Performing Restaurant Cities (Change in Daily Diners: July 2022 vs July 2019) Las Vegas (+35.7%) Fort Lauderdale (+34.0%) Miami (+32.8%) Austin (+27.3%) Naples (+25.4%) Tampa (+22.3%) Nashville (19.2%) San Antonio (+18.6%) Scottsdale (+18.0%) Phoenix (+14.3%) Source: OpenTable via Fox News