◼COVID-19 / BUSINESS Bloomberg Businessweek March 16, 202036typically see at least
double the tips they’d
make on a normal night. “I definitely won’t be able
to go on vacation anytime soon, and I was kind of
hoping for that,” Welch says.
Fernando Marri, owner of the Boteco food
truck in East Austin, said the cancellation will
cost him $45,000 of catering business, so he won’t
be hiring the 10 workers he’d planned to take on
during SXSW. The timing is particularly bad—
he was expecting a jump in customers after his
business, which sellscoxinhas,brigadeiros, and
other foods from his native Brazil, was lauded by
Food Network host Guy Fieri two months ago. In
the video, Fieri said he’d been turned on to the
truck by the actor and beloved Austinite Matthew
McConaughey.
“For everybody that lives in Austin, go out and
support small businesses,” Marri says. “Think
about that a little extra this month.”
Austin has long considered itself a city that’s
friendly to the creative class, where musicians
can find a steady stream of gigs and plenty of
service-industry work to pay the bills before they
make it big. But that reputation has changed in
recent years; housing costs have shot up amid a
technology boom that’s seen thousands of jobs
created by Apple, IBM, Oracle, and other compa-
nies. While that influx of tech employers helped
give the region the fastest-growing economy○ Asif Khan has a new routine every time one of
his ride-share passengers steps out of the Toyota
minivan he drives in Austin: He grabs a can of
Lysol and sprays everything down. “It says it kills
all the germs,” he explains.
With diligence and luck, Khan might be able to
avoid getting sick. But there isn’t much he can do
about the financial hit coming his way now that
the city has canceled the 2020 South by Southwest
music and technology festival over concerns about
the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of the extra
$2,000 he expected to rake in during the two-week
event, he’ll likely make less than he does during
normal times, driving 10 to 12 hours seven days
a week. That’ll mean forgoing plans to pay down
debt, he says. “Now it’s going to take a little longer.”
Organizers said SXSW, which draws hundreds
of thousands of attendees from more than 100
countries every March, had a total economic
impact on Austin of almost $356 million last
year. That includes hotel and Airbnb rooms, the
money big corporations spend renting venues for
dinners, the bar tabs for the revelers that flood
downtown, and the surge in shopping at hipster
boutiques as foot traffic picks up.
“It’s like a hurricane of people, of humanity,
that leaves behind money instead of wreckage,”
says Brian Rush, who owns the Tears of Joy hot-
sauce shop in the downtown entertainment dis-
trict. March typically brings in two to three times
the revenue he makes in an average month as he
guides walk-ins to house-made concoctions with
names like Dragon’s Breath and Night Destroyer.
Rush expects business will be lower than
in previous years, but isn’t sure how bad it will
be. That’s because he figures many people who
already bought tickets to Austin will still make the
trip, especially those coming for the smaller, unof-
ficial music shows that pop up during the festival.
That’s also the hope of Miranda Welch, the lead
barista at Gelateria Gemelli, which sells sweets,
coffee, and cocktails just outside downtown.
Welch also works as a doorperson and bartender
at the music venue Cheer Up Charlies and counts
on a windfall from SXSW, during which they▲ Businesses across
Austin are in mourningBut what if it
doesn’t?
What is South by Southwest worth?
People registered
for SXSW in 2019A breakdown of its $356 million economic impact on Austin in 2019
Attendee spending Other impactTransportHotels
$110m
Exhibitor
and sponsor
parties and
events
$100mYear-round
operations
$74mFood, drinks
$45mOther
$19mAttendees86.6k
Speakers4.8k
Members of the media4.3k