Quintana Roo Restaurants Adapt to January Downturn

Cancún, Mexico — The restaurant industry in Quintana Roo is facing a more complex start to the year than usual, with a widespread drop in consumption that has forced establishments to rethink their operations to survive the so-called “January slump.”

Customer Inflow Has Decreased

This was acknowledged by Julio Villarreal Zapata, president of the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry (Canirac) in Quintana Roo, who warned that since the end of 2025 the sector already anticipated a difficult start to the year, a scenario that has now been confirmed with a significant reduction in customer inflow.

“A fairly widespread drop in consumption has been felt. Traditionally, in the second half of January we used to see a recovery, with occupancies of up to 80 or 85 percent, but this year we are not achieving those goals,” he said.

Implement Measures to Continue Operating

Faced with this outlook, restaurants have begun to apply various adjustment measures to stay afloat. These include reducing the size of establishments, compacting operating hours, cutting staff, and modifying their menus to make them more accessible to consumers.

“Some restaurants are opting to become smaller; others are cutting hours or changing their service model. There are a multitude of practices that have to be implemented, because if we don’t, we would be facing a very complicated crisis for the industry,” warned Villarreal Zapata.

Will Seek Strategies to Attract New Customers

The restaurant leader explained that the low economic growth forecast for this year, estimated at just 1.5 percent, does not generate sufficient conditions for an automatic recovery of the sector, so it will be essential to work intensively on attracting new customers and adapting to changes in consumption habits.

In this sense, he highlighted that new generations tend to spend less on dining out, favoring consumption at home, driven both by cooking tutorials and the need to economize in the face of the loss of purchasing power, which ended 2025 with a drop of close to 4 percent.

According to data collected by Canirac, during 2025 restaurants reported drops of between 15 and 18 percent in their sales, a situation that generates widespread concern across all segments, from traditional restaurants to bars and sports bars.

External Factors Also Influence

This scenario is compounded by external factors such as the decrease in the value of the dollar against the peso, which has reduced tip income for workers in the tourism sector, as well as the decline in the flow of remittances to Mexico, which directly impacts families’ purchasing power.

Despite the difficulties, Villarreal Zapata assured that the restaurant sector has proven to be resilient. Although during the last year the closure of between 10 and 15 large restaurants was recorded, many entrepreneurs chose to reinvent themselves, opening smaller spaces with different concepts.