After shelter-in-place orders started going into effect across the country in March, restaurants were among the first to absorb the hit. By mid-April, the state of the restaurant industry was dire, with federal economic aid through the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program unable to prevent mass layoffs. According to an April survey by the James Beard Foundation, about two-thirds of restaurants were uncertain that takeout or delivery could sustain their businesses, and more than half of responding restaurants had taken on at least $50,000 in new debt obligations, crippling figures for an industry composed mostly of independent operators making slim margins even before the crisis.

OpenTable predicted in May that a quarter of restaurants in the United States would never reopen after the coronavirus pandemic. Yet, against all odds, brand new restaurants keep popping up, from New York City to Omaha.