Prakas said the phenomenon is taking place for both chain restaurants and single-owner establishments.

“It seems like people are just being cautious, even if their business has held up. Instead of pulling the trigger on another location, it seems they’re taking a wait-and-see attitude. It’s more of a precautionary thing than a true problem in some cases,” he said.

Prakas said he believes real demand-side weakness is being experienced in mid-scale restaurants and night clubs - and the situation is actually boosting the prospects for quick-service eateries.

“We’re with operators every day. One Boca Raton operator said he can see his expensive appetizers and more expensive wines are not selling in this market like they were a year ago. The average check per head is down. People are more cautious on their purchases,” he said.

“People that would have gone to a mid-scale to upper-scale restaurant are cutting back. They’re eating out at a lower price point.”

Prakas said he’s cautiously optimistic about restaurant performance in the near future, but challenges remain. Considering the credit markets, weakness in the dollar and rising commodity prices, even if the volume of sales is the same or better, the cost of doing business is much higher, he said.

“It’s really a total economic picture now for every industry. It’s intertwined,” he said.

Central Florida

In contrast to South Florida, restaurant leasing in and around the tourism capital of the world seems to be doing just fine, said John Crossman, president of full-service real estate firm Crossman & Company in Orlando.

“We’ve seen no slowdown in that regard, particularly in The Villages,” said Crossman, whose company handles all retail leasing for what is now the largest single-site residential real estate project in the United States. The Villages spans more than 25,000 acres in Lake, Sumter and Marion counties.

Crossman said Red Lobster recently signed a lease at the development, where several restaurants have already opened this year and more are expected in the next 90 days.

Crossman & Company is a landlord’s representative handling about 5 msf in Publix-anchored neighborhood shopping centers, town center projects, open-air power centers and some middle-class centers. Crossman said leasing volume in restaurant space can partly be attributed to flexibility among their landlords.

“Part of it has been that - as a landlord’s representative - our clients are well-heeled. They’ll work with good retailers to make deals happen,” he said. “For the product we’re marketing, we still have significant interest.”

Other factors include strong Orlando-area tourism and - at The Villages - a stable economy.

“Last year was the biggest year ever for Disney. The weak dollar has lots of foreign tourists coming in. That has kept it strong,” he said.

“In The Villages, the growth is from people who aren’t impacted as much by the economic situation. They are retiring and have a good portfolio and equity in their homes. A lot of people come with two cars. When they trade one in on some golf carts, they spend a lot less money on gas.”

Tampa Bay

Patrick Berman, a retail property specialist who does both landlord and tenant representation for Cushman & Wakefield in Tampa, said restaurant leasing activity is down across the board.

Consumer confidence is the key factor, Berman said. Low numbers have coincided with a drop in both general and same-store sales, he said, and many retailers have scaled back or frozen their expansion plans.

Berman said major quick-service restaurants like Starbucks and Subway are still opening, but at a slower pace. Moderate performers are in a holding pattern, and weak performers are closing units, he said.

Rental rates paid by restaurants are still in a healthy range, Berman said, but they are down 10% from the peak in 3Q05. Add in a few incentives like free rent and higher TI allowances, and the discount is closer to 15%, he said.

Berman said he expects economic conditions to stop deteriorating and begin to slowly gain ground in the third quarter, with appreciable gains in 2009.

Jacksonville

New restaurant openings in Jacksonville are heavily influenced by where the company is in its market development cycle, said Kate Clifford, president, owner and broker at Strategic Sites/Clifford Commercial. The company does tenant representation for several national brands including Panera Bread, Dunkin’ Donuts, Jason’s Deli and Hooters.

“All of these groups are in the market because they have a master plan. They are looking to strategically identify locations all over the city. Panera is in almost all of their must-have locations and in several of their secondary areas,” Clifford said.

But Panera and Starbucks have both stopped expansion in some of their tertiary markets, she said.

“As the residential slows down, some of these groups who had identified sites in those submarkets are kind of pulling back. They’re saying the demographics they need to open successfully are not currently there,” she said.

Clifford said Dunkin’ Donuts is still on the hunt for underserved locations with pent-up demand or for locations where landlord incentives are available.

Some restaurant concepts are returning to the Jacksonville market, Clifford said, including Applebee’s, Johnny Carino’s, Bennegan’s and Steak & Ale. But activity among new concepts is down overall.

“We clearly are seeing fewer new concepts coming into the market, but I think that’s also a function of the fact there are fewer new projects out there,” she said.

Clifford said that new retail projects, if well located, will always have an energy that sustains restaurant tenants. Restaurants at the St. Johns Town Center mixed-use development, for example, are performing well despite high rental rates, she said.