Chick-fil-A Boosts Bentonville Taxes

New-to-market entrants kept Bentonville’s hotel and restaurant collections in positive territory for the month of February in spite of large declines among most of the top 10 grossing locations.

Chick-fil-A, which opened last April but still finished fourth in gross sales for 2008, unseated traditionally top-ranked McDonald’s #5430 on South Walton Boulevard in February.

Chick-fil-A’s February sales of $190,393 accounted for all of Bentonville’s total sales growth of 3.1 percent year-over-year for the month.

Sit-down and fast casual restaurants were particularly hard hit, with Shogun Steakhouse seeing an 11.5 percent decline year-over-year, Lin’s down 6.3 percent and Panera Bread off 9.6 percent.

On the hotel side of the hospitality business, the national economic downturn is more evident. But again, a newcomer is pulling some extra weight.

The Doubletree Guest Suites in Bentonville, which opened in February last year with just $46,000 in room revenue, surged to the top spot in 2009 with $457,200 in room revenue.

That difference allowed Bentonville to post a 1 percent year-over-year gain in hotel tax revenue despite declines of 22.9 percent at the Hilton Garden Inn, 27.3 percent at the Clarion and 29.8 percent at Holiday Inn Express.

One member of the top 10 open at least a year — TownePlace Suites — increased its revenue 96.1 percent to $170,321 for February.

What accounts for TownePlace’s large increase remains a mystery. When asked for comment on the hotel’s strong performance, an employee declined by saying that information is “proprietary.”