Deep Dive: Connecticut restaurant reservations up 27% in recent months

Connecticut restaurant reservations were up 27% in October, according to new data.
Caleb Silver, of Investopedia, broke down the numbers using Open Table.
Silver says with emergence of a new variant of COVID and continuing supply chain issues, nationally, the labor market and restaurants can't get enough workers.
Despite all that, Silver says Connecticut has experienced a significant rebound in restaurant reservations which were up as high as 27.5% in October, over 2019 levels.
Silver says the numbers show a lot of people are going out in Connecticut, but the number of people dinning out is starting to slow as we get around the holiday season.
Silver says restaurant reservations play an important role as an indicator of the economy. He says it means tax revenue and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for the state of Connecticut, but it also means jobs.
Silver says the restaurant industry in Connecticut is about 96,000 people strong but that's about 7% lower than it was in 2019.