Restaurants seeking to resuscitate their dining rooms face a renewed threat from the spike in COVID-19 infections and new government restrictions just as the weather has turned colder, cutting into outdoor dining.
The surge in COVID-19 infections in the past few weeks has caused a backslide in patronage at restaurants, according to OpenTable. In October, reservations were off by roughly 40% in many restaurants when compared to last year. They are now off by over 70% in several spots.
In Chicago, where skyrocketing infections prompted Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot to ban indoor dining, reservations were over 94% lower on Tuesday than they were for the same day in 2019, according to OpenTable.
Restaurants are ordering from 21% fewer suppliers as they scale down, shift to delivery, or close entirely, according to Choco, a food tech company connecting restaurants to food suppliers.
Choco’s CEO, Daniel Khachab, said survival could depend on restaurants serving their local economies as consumers stay and work at home by either providing curbside pickup or partnering with food suppliers to turn dining rooms into grocery stores.
The spike in virus cases has prompted a number of states to limit or prohibit visits to restaurants and bars.
Seating capacity has been restricted in states such as Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Maine, and Maryland.
Restaurants in Michigan can only provide carryout service.
In New York state, restaurants must shut down operations from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily.
These and other restrictions are getting pushback from the National Restaurant Association, which argues that restaurants have been unfairly categorized as superspreaders.
“Data tying systemic community outbreaks of COVID-19 to restaurants has yet to emerge, but we are too commonly labelled as ‘super-spreaders,’ and have become a convenient scapegoat for reflexive shutdowns,” Tom Bene, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, wrote Tuesday to the National Governors Association.
“There is an unfounded impression that restaurants are part of the problem, and we are suffering as a result of inconsistent, restrictive mandates,” he added.
Bene noted that decisions regarding restaurant operations should be based on facts and contact-tracing data, and if restrictive regulations are imposed, it should be clear what health metrics must be achieved to return to normal operations.
