Restaurants Face Challenging Winter as Covid Sinks Hospitality Industry

As Covid-19 wreaks continued havoc across the globe, restaurants are still among the hardest hit industries.

It’s been estimated that 2.2 million restaurants worldwide won’t re-open at all. The problem remains especially acute in U.S., where $899 billion in sales projected by the National Restaurant Industry for 2020 are a distant memory. At the height of the pandemic in April, one quarter of the 20.5 million jobs lost were in the restaurant industry, erasing three decades of growth. By early December, 17% of the country’s restaurants—over 110,000—had closed permanently or long-term.

Data released Dec. 4 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics saw employment in food services and drinking places down by 3.4 million since February.

How dining evolves from here depends on rethinking economics and tweaking business models: amplified takeout, mail order, and meal kits, as well as side businesses in wine, liquor, and groceries. There is also the question of rethinking design: plexiglass and planters to divide spaces and airflow, smart-looking hand-washing stations, occupancy restrictions, al fresco seating.

Ultimately, there will always be customers who will want to eat and congregate. But in an industry with historically slim margins, something’s going to give until a vaccine is found. What that is seems to change by the day.

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