F1: Las Vegas small businesses brace for impact from race week

As the Las Vegas Strip prepares for a major motorsports event on the roads this week, some bartenders at a small casino within the Grand Prix circuit are taking off instead of picking up shifts during the Formula One weekend.

“My bartenders all wanted the week off because they did no money last year,” Randy Markin, owner of Stage Door Casino and Battista’s Hole in the Wall restaurant, said. “We’re having people take vacations during this time. We’re supposed to be busy. My girls out there should be making a lot of money.”

In a shift from high hopes for the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix event last year, some independent businesses in and near the resort corridor are preparing for a repeat of weak business volumes through the rest of the week. Markin said Battista’s, an Italian restaurant operating since 1970, expects to average about 200 to 250 covers each night through the race dates, Thursday through Sunday. It’s a drop from the roughly 600 average nightly covers, he said.

Others outside of the race’s immediate vicinity are also seeing the effects of race preparations despite the limited road work done to prepare for this year’s race. Mimmo Ferraro, executive chef at Ferraro’s Ristorante, said daily covers began to drop off last week. As of Monday afternoon, Friday and Saturday reservations for the popular tourist and conventioneer spot fell to below 70 people.

“I know what my break point is here every day,” Ferraro said. “With these numbers, we don’t hit that break point. This is two weeks of business loss. If it was just a bad weekend, I could deal. But I can’t deal with weeks or months. We can’t do that doing 50, 60 or 70 people.”

It’s a concern both business leaders have shared before. The owners of Ferraro’s and Stage Door/Battista’s Hole in the Wall are each suing the Grand Prix in Clark County District Court for the losses incurred from the 2023 event. Ellis Island Casino also has a separate lawsuit, all of which are ongoing.

Roadwork reduced by 65 percent

Race officials say they worked with businesses this year to reduce impact from circuit installation. Lori Nelson-Kraft, spokesperson for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, said that roadwork was reduced by 65 percent and the temporary vehicular bridge on Flamingo Road over Koval Lane was reduced from four to two lanes for this year’s race, following feedback from stakeholder meetings.

Nelson-Kraft also provided business owners within the circuit, like Markin, with customized track closure and vehicle access informational packets that include tips on guest and employee access.

Still, some proprietors say the F1 preparations in recent weeks have had the same negative effect on business as last year’s lengthy road preparations. Ferraro said his team realized they shouldn’t commit to big plans for the race week because of the logistics of getting to Ferraro’s — located at Paradise Road and Harmon Avenue — from the Strip.

“Last year for this, we opened up lunch,” Ferraro said. “We extended hours to open up late night — and nothing. We’re a high-end restaurant. Our customer is buying the ticket or staying in the property that is allowing them some sort of food and beverage package or incentive to stay on property.”

‘It’s robbing my employees’

Traffic flow to and from the Strip is a major concern for business owners. John Simmons, the chef and owner of Firefly Tapas Kitchen and Bar on Flamingo Road and Tacos & Beer on Paradise Road south of Sands Avenue, said his two restaurants have seen about a 25 percent decrease in volume in October and November — some of which he attributes to the installation of the Flamingo temporary bridge. Simmons said he’ll keep the restaurant open with a skeleton crew.

“It’s robbing my employees and me incrementally, every day of just a little bit,” Simmons said. Flamingo (Road), that is the feeder for my businesses. That is the river that brings the fish. They close it down so they can put up that bridge, and it’s costing my employees and me thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars.”

The impact to tipped workers is a major concern for Markin. He said he’s worried about how little his tipped staff are making, especially because of tip compliance law practices that take out payroll taxes based on a worker’s assumed tips.

“When we’re doing well, we give out quarterly bonuses,” Markin said. “Not just on Christmas and Thanksgiving. Maybe only $100 but it could go up there. We haven’t given one since F1.”

At Jay’s Market and the Shell gas station at Koval Lane and Flamingo Road, owner Wade Bohn said he’s still suffering from similar infrastructure issues that blocked access to his business during race preparations last year. He laid off half his staff and hasn’t rehired them, leading to only one worker per shift and a correlated increase in retail theft, Bohn said. Since race preparations began, he said his revenues are down 70 percent, selling less than 1,000 gallons of gas per day when he could expect around 1,500 daily.

Also, a sandwich counter space that he previously leased to a Port of Subs franchise failed in August 2023. He hasn’t found a new tenant for the $4,000 monthly lease.

Ingress and egress to the site were more clearly marked compared with one year ago. But a new pedestrian bridge at the intersection, completed last Friday, blocks off the property’s Koval Lane entrance. Bohn said it has made gasoline delivery more logistically complex, requiring the tanker to take two trips.

“I just can’t understand the logic of destroying very well-off businesses. We’re all very profitable,” Bohn said. “And all this for an hour and a half race once a year? I don’t get it.”

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.