As troops march in Washington, patrons give restaurants a miss

When chef Rock Harper read the news this month that President Donald Trump was going to send the National Guard into the streets of Washington, DC, to crack down on crime, he immediately worried about how this would affect business at Hill Prince, his casual bar and restaurant on the perpetually busy H Street corridor.

"It was concerning," he said. "What is seeing armed guards going to do to business?"

Still, he and the team prepared for that evening's service as they typically would, readying dishes and the dining room for a potential dinner rush. By the time they closed, the night's sales totaled $112 - a far cry from the usual $1,200 the restaurant takes in on a busy weeknight. "It was an absolute ghost town," Harper said. The next night was only slightly better, with total sales of $300. "August is always slow, but this is different," he added.

Harper is one of many business owners in the city who trace falling traffic to the presence of some 800 National Guard troops and 500 federal law enforcement officers. The National Guard deployment also coincided with Summer Restaurant Week, an annual promotion intended to boost restaurant sales during what is historically a very slow month.

Data from reservation service OpenTable shows that reservations to Washington restaurants for this year's promotion are 24% lower than those during Restaurant Week 2024, held at the same time last year. This year there was also a 7% drop from the week before the arrival of the National Guard.

In a statement, Shawn Townsend, the president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, said, "D.C. is safe and open for business." He added that the "priority is ensuring that D.C. remains a safe, welcoming place for residents, visitors, and the thousands of workers who power our hospitality industry." The association announced Thursday that 120 of the 382 restaurants participating in Restaurant Week would extend their deals through the end of the month.

The owner of a casual restaurant a couple of miles from the White House, who requested anonymity because of fear of retaliation from government and law enforcement officials, said his sales were down 30% from the previous week, a historic low for his business.

The restaurant has also been struggling to execute delivery orders, which it offers through a third-party app. This past week, several news outlets reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had been detaining drivers as they made deliveries, and the owner said some drivers were afraid to come into the city to pick up food.

He added that members of his staff had been stopped by ICE agents on the way home, and subsequently called in sick. Trump has described the troop deployment as necessary to help a city besieged by out-of-control crime. But many restaurateurs said - and data has shown - that claim doesn't match reality. "D.C. is not the war zone that it's being painted out to be," Harper said. Others say a crackdown on crime is long overdue.

Bart Hutchins, the chef and owner of Butterworth's, on Pennsylvania Avenue, said he wished the conversation around the issue was more "nuanced." Business at his restaurant, which is popular with conservatives in the city, has been slow, but he attributes that to the Senate recess and the usual lull in August, when many families and Capitol Hill staff members travel outside the city. "I wish business owners could talk about crime in D.C. in reality and what we're seeing," he said. He pointed to a nearby convenience store that had been repeatedly robbed at gunpoint - so often that it has installed cameras and a buzzer system to admit customers. NYT