Springtime visitors having big impact on Arizona’s restaurant business (Fox 10 News) »

PHOENIX (KSAZ) – Springtime is a great time to visit Arizona, and those visitors are having a big impact on the restaurant business in the state.

New figures from data service Womply shows that Arizona restaurants had a record year for business last March, up more than 21% from the previous year.

This March, meanwhile, is shaping up to be another record year. In Old Town Scottsdale, restaurants say March has been a hectic month, as they see heavy foot traffic everyday, due to spring training.

“Foot traffic that we get from the Giant Stadium is massive,” said Ashley Schmidt, Assistant Manager at Ra Sushi. “Sales are progressively a lot higher than last year, so I think definitely word of mouth, and then having those returning guests enjoy our concept, and are coming back for more.”

Meanwhile, tourists are having a great time.

“It’s always nice to show people our brand, how Scottsdale is, all the environment with all the other restaurants here,” said Derek Thrasher, General Manager for RnR.