This is a sad time for restaurant-loving foodies, but even more so for the owners of those food-service-based businesses. It has now been six months since restaurants were forced to shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to a new survey released yesterday by the National Restaurant Association, nearly 1 in 6 restaurants (representing nearly 100,000 restaurants) is closed either permanently or long-term; nearly 3 million employees are still out of work, and the industry is on track to lose $240 billion in sales by the end of the year.
“For an industry built on service and hospitality, the last six months have challenged the core understanding of our business,” said Tom Bené, President & CEO of the National Restaurant Association (NRA). “Our survival for this comes down to the creativity and entrepreneurship of owners, operators, and employees. Across the board, from independent owners to multi-unit franchise operators, restaurants are losing money every month, and they continue to struggle to serve their communities and support their employees.”
Some restaurants have been able to pivot and offer delivery or curbside takeout services. Others have been able to open at reduced capacity. But not all restaurants are able to pivot, in part because they would end up losing more money than they already are by being closed.
Have you been to a dining room lately? Many of the tables are marked off as not available to maintain social distancing. In some places, tables are stacked in the corner, as well. Some restaurants have invested in barriers between booths and tables. All that I’ve seen have implemented disinfecting protocols which can increase employee time while reducing customer time.
The NRA survey, which asked restaurant operators about the six-month impact of the pandemic on their businesses, found that overwhelmingly, most restaurants are still struggling to survive and don’t expect their position to improve over the next six months. The findings include:
- Consumer spending in restaurants has remained well below normal levels in August. Overall, sales were down 34% on average.
- 60% of operators say their restaurant’s total operational costs (as a percent of sales) are higher than they were prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.
- On average, restaurant operators say their current staffing levels are only 71% of what they would typically be in the absence of COVID-19.
- In a recent consumer survey, 56% of adults said they are aware of a restaurant in their community that permanently closed during the pandemic.
The survey also found that 40% of operators think it is unlikely their restaurant will still be in business six months from now if there are no additional relief packages from the federal government. The Association highlighted this for Congress and the Trump Administration in a letter sent yesterday, asking them to use bipartisan support to pass small business programs in stand-alone bills.
“This survey reminds us that independent owners and small franchisees don’t have time on their side,” said Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of Public Affairs for the Association. “The ongoing disruptions and uncertainty make it impossible for these owners to plan for next week, much less next year.”
Before the lockdown, “the foodservice industry was the nation’s second-largest private-sector employer and pumped more than $2 trillion into the economy,” said Kennedy.
The association has developed recommendations for the revival of the industry. You can read about them on their website.
To read more restaurant news content on this site, go to the “Restaurant News & Reviews” section. I also have a section on “The Business of Food.”
Plant-based options are proliferating in many categories beyond meat substitutes. Segments like cheese and frozen desserts are enjoying growth in plant-based subcategories. As for meat alternatives, algae is winning fans. 2018 will bring more plant-based convenience foods too.
Often overshadowed by other Asian cuisines, the foods of the Philippines have not yet captured a broad U.S. audience. That’s shifting, as American palates have become more sophisticated and attuned to the complex flavors and bitter or sour notes of Filipino dishes. Chefs and tastemakers are taking to this cuisine that infuses Asian and Latin flavors, and #filipinofoodmovement, founded in 2012 to create awareness and appreciation of Filipino culinary arts, is a growing force.
Possibly a reaction to the 2017’s deluge of rainbow and unicorn foods, black is the new black. Activated charcoal — produced by heating coconut shells to extremely high temperatures until they are carbonized — is gaining superfood status for its reported detoxifying attributes and is being used as a surprising twist in everything from pizza crust to lemonade to ice cream. We’ll see it spread in the coming year.
With sugar topping the list of dietary watch-outs, consumers continue to look to alternative sweeteners for lower glycemic impact, fewer added-sugar calories, and intriguing sweet flavors as well as sustainable footprints. Syrups made from dates, sorghum, and even yacon and sun root will join monk fruit on the market as emerging options for sweet.
More is more when it comes to product labeling. Consumers will seek greater on-label visibility into the farms, ingredient sources, and supply chain of each item in their shopping basket. GMO transparency is among the most prioritized details, but shoppers want new depths of information across the spectrum, including Fair Trade certification, responsible production, and no animal testing.
Between nose-to-tail butchery and reducing food waste, a few forces are combining to inspire root-to-stem cooking — using the entire fruit or vegetable, including things like stems or leaves that are less commonly eaten. I would assume that eating more stems in your food would increase the fiber content, a very good thing, but I could not find any information to substantiate that idea.
Although much attention has been placed on gluten-free options in recent years, the traditional side of bakery has also been elevated by the same sourcing and fine-tuned production processes we see with proteins and vegetables. Bakers are using local grains, milling the day before baking, and incorporating long proofing times, re-inventing what good bread means.
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The pumpkin milkshake uses a vanilla shake as it’s base and adds in pumpkin and pumpkin spice. It is served with whipped cream and a candy corn garnish.
Enter Sunday’s Chef. This company, founded by Michael and Lauren Landis, provides subscribers with weekly meal plans and recipes. Unlike other recipe providers, Sunday’s Chef focuses on meals that can be prepped on Sunday nights for the rest of the week and then made in 15 minutes or less on weeknights. Their service is designed for families of three, but they offer options for larger families as well. 
Sunday’s Chef: We started this business a few years after we got married and realized that neither of us was a great cook. At first, we tried to pick random recipes to use but this ended up being too unorganized. Next, we tried a recipe planning site which gave you a set of recipes each week and a summarized shopping list. We loved this service but the recipes ended taking up 45 min – 1.5 hours to make each night. With busy jobs, social lives, and then adding a baby to the mix, we did not have the time to devote to these recipes every evening. From this, we came up with the idea of Sunday’s Chef. We knew that preparing decent meals took a good amount of time and we decided to move all that work to a Sunday. Because we were generally free on the weekend we had a good amount of time to prepare the main ingredients for our recipes. Then on the weeknights, we set a goal of spending no more than 15 minutes on prepping the meal. With these goals in mind, we set out to make a business out of it.
CC: Have you found that meal planning has changed your life for the better?
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Will you be in London anytime between September 9 and October 3, 2015? If so, you’ll want to check out this cool event called Conflict Café. It is an innovative pop-up restaurant launched by peace-building charity 
Food is often associated with conversation — think many a Thanksgiving diner — and so this event aims to showcase how food can unite, inform and provoke discussion.
“Following the tremendous success of last year, we’re very excited that Conflict Café will be returning to celebrate the food and culture of even more countries affected by conflict,” said Ilaria Bianchi, Head of Communications at International Alert. “The restaurant provides an interesting and unique platform for breaking down barriers and getting people talking about peace and conflict issues around the world.”
“For us, food is beyond conflict,” said Honey & Co chefs Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich. “Our cooking is a labor of nothing but love and an extension of our home. Food has that priceless power to bring people together around a table for a shared moment in a hectic world.”
Event in a Nutshell
