Gabriel Ruiz, who runs Boston Red Dogs, a set of kiosks that sell hot dogs, sodas and Italian sausages on the cusp of the city’s financial district, has never seen such a lacklustre lunchtime rush.

The queues to his stall at lunchtime used to snake around the corner of Washington Street but not lately. “I’ve been on this street for 18 years and this is the first year that I am not sure if I am going to operate in January, February and March,” said Mr Ruiz, who owns four pushcarts in Downtown Crossing and the Boston Common. “I’ve lost a lot of regular customers to job cuts in the area.”