That’s what I hear but the restaurants where I live aren’t hurting for lunch and just try getting in a good one on a weekend night. I have trouble reconciling what I’m told with what I see.
The difference is the clientele; in my area many bars were suffering (and many closed), and those that remain cater to the 20- and 30- somethings that are working while not encumbered by families/mortgages. It is a temporary respite for those industries relying on peoples’ discretionary dollars; when this wave dies off the people that are replacing them (foreigners) have very different habits.