Yelp: Inflation Turning Up in More Searches on Its Platform

Language related to inflation is becoming more frequent in reviews on business directory and crowdsourced review forum Yelp, with food businesses and restaurants taking a particularly hard hit, according to the Yelp Economic Average report for the third quarter of 2022, released Wednesday. Yelp wrote in the introduction to its report, “Local businesses and communities now face a new set of challenges in addition to the lingering impacts of the pandemic, from continuing supply chain issues and delays, workforce shortages and reductions and the highest inflation rate in 40 years. These disruptions contribute to the rapidly increasing price of goods and services, which in the third quarter led consumers to opt for more affordable options.” The company said the annual inflation rate in the U.S. peaked at 9.1% in June, marking a 40-year all-time high, adding that even though it was down to 8.2% in September, that level is still above market forecasts. Yelp has seen the frequency of inflationary language in reviews on its platform rise 4% in the third quarter compared with the second quarter and 22% versus the third quarter of 2021. Food businesses and restaurants saw inflation mentions in their reviews on Yelp jump 31% and 28%, respectively, year-over-year in the third quarter. Yelp found that restaurants serving Asian cuisine represented roughly one-quarter of those that saw rises in inflationary experiences, with Asian restaurants overall seeing inflation mentions rise 24% year-over-year during the period, especially Mongolian restaurants (up 89%), Filipino restaurants (65%) and Japanese curry restaurants (60%). Groceries and markets made up four of the top five food businesses to see year-over-year increases in inflationary mentions in reviews. Food businesses s primarily selling desserts did not fare well, with a 29% average increase in inflation mentions versus the third quarter of last year, led by custom cakes (up 54%), donuts (49%), bakeries (40%) and shaved ice (39%). The high inflation rates are impacting searches on Yelp, as well, with queries for budget dining and groceries up 11% quarter-over-quarter and 9% year-over-year, while searches related to affordable groceries leapt 67% and 126%, respectively. Over the same time periods, searches related to fast-food concepts were up 10% and 8%, respectively. Yelp said the states with the highest quarter-over-quarter increases in searches related to affordable dining and groceries were: Washington, D.C. (up 27%); Louisiana (26%); New York (25%); West Virginia (24%); and Pennsylvania and Mississippi (both at 20%). The company wrote in its report, “Although many consumers are continuing to feel the long-term effects of inflation, consumer spending remains strong, and the pandemic has proven that local businesses and communities are resilient.”

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Yelp: Inflation Turning Up in More Searches on Its Platform

Food businesses, restaurants were particularly hard-hit in the third quarter of 2022

David Cohen

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David Cohen