Restaurant industry could lose as much as $240 billion by year’s end. National Restaurant Association: Industry has already lost $120 billion. Survey: 52% of Americans would feel uncomfortable dining in a restaurant/bar for the next 3 months. According to JPMorgan Chase, credit card spending in restaurants tends to predict new coronavirus cases about three weeks later.
Restaurant transactions have stalled for a second week in a row. Total customer transactions at major U.S. restaurant chains are down by 14% versus the same week a year ago. Concepts with heavy on-premise operations that don’t have the ability to shift quickly to carryout or delivery are in a particularly precarious position. The Independent Restaurant Coalition has predicted that as many as 85% of independent restaurants could permanently close by the end of the year.
“You’ll see a lot of pain and some of these places will go out of business,” Bagley said. ‘Those places will come back.’ ” “The best thing about the [restaurant] space is it is resilient. There’s always something new.” “But COVID isn’t the end. The economy will rebound and, eventually, things will return to normal”.
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