Thursday, March 28, 2024

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World Cup a boon for restaurants

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A big match in the World Cup today. Germany took on the U.S and won. But American fans weren’t too disappointed as the team will still move on to the next round. Fans flocked to local bars and restaurants to catch their favourite teams in action, and that’s good for business.

Flags are lined up all along James Street. The month-long World Cup has soccer-crazed fans glued to the TV sets at local bars and pubs, some even playing hookie from work. While that’s not good for their employers, it’s good for businesses like the restaurants on James Street.

“It’s the biggest thing to happen to Hamilton. We had all this put on for us and people are reacting to it,” said George Thomson, a USA fan.

The U.S. lost to Germany but will move on to the next round. But no matter what team is triumphant, the business owners are the winners. LA Piazza says business is up 40 per cent and they’ve hired three new staff thanks to World Cup mania.

“It’s big business. No one’s at work right now,” said Karen Adams, a manager at LA Piazza.

It’s the same situation at Acclamation further down James Street.

“During the games we get triple the people we usually get on a daily basis. So it’s very good, they have a quick lunch and then head back to work,” said Vanessa Amaral of Acclamation Restaurant.

Win or lose, die hard fans never give up on their favorite team, and that’s great for business.

“We were born with soccer, we love soccer it’s in our blood,” said Nick Alves.

It was an interesting day for these soccer fans. A team that won its match, Portugal, was eliminated and another team that lost today, the U.S., will advance because of Portugal’s loss.

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