Over 110K restaurants nationwide closed due to COVID-19 pandemic
AUSTIN, Texas - Over 110,000 restaurants nationwide have closed their doors during the pandemic. The National Restaurant Association released a survey detailing the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on the restaurant industry.
According to the survey, 17% of restaurants have closed and it predicts 10,000 more will close by the end of the year.
“It doesn't surprise me, our data tells us we've already lost 10,000 restaurants in Texas. COVID-19 has been a nightmare for Texas restaurants,” said Kelsey Erickson Streufert, Vice President of Government Relations and Advocacy for the Texas Restaurant Association.
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The survey also reveals 87% of full-service restaurants have reported a 36% average drop in revenue. Streufert says it's no surprise that restaurants have been struggling.
“Restaurants, of course, didn't create this pandemic or this financial situation, but they're being asked to shoulder a lot of the burden and to come up with ever-changing ways to comply with new regulations, and which of course, all have a tremendous cost to them,” said Streufert.
With the cold weather making it hard to use outside space and cases rising, Streufert says it's just going to get harder for restaurants to survive and that restaurants need help and they need it now.
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“We cannot afford to wait until February and if we do that we will see up to 30% of our Texas restaurants closed, in addition to the 10,000, we've already lost. That would be devastating for our businesses, for our communities, for our food supply chain, for unemployment, it truly would have ripple effects across our economy in our communities,” said Streufert.
The National Restaurant Association sent its survey results over to Congress to hopefully receive federal aid.