TOKYO: Restaurant sales in Japan in May rose 20.4 pct from a year before after restrictions on serving alcohol were lifted, the Japan Food Service Association said Monday.

But sales were still down 4.6 pct from May 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May this year, sales increased year on year for the sixth consecutive month as the number of customers, including families, recovered mainly in the country’s Golden Week holiday period from late April to early May.

Sales at pubs and “izakaya” bars jumped 4.7-fold from a year before but were 45.3 pct below the May 2019 level.

Family and fast-food restaurants saw their sales grow 36.7 pct and 5.7 pct, respectively, from a year earlier. Fast-food restaurants received support from solid delivery demand.

“The pace of recovery in the number of customers at nighttime is slow, and the pickup in sales at izakaya is about to stall,” an association official said.

JIJI Press