A new report finds that 85 percent of independent restaurants may close by the end of the year if direct government aid is not provided.
“The collapse of independent restaurants would ignite a downward economic spiral with ripple effects in other already hard-hit industries in the travel, hospitality, and leisure sector that would be felt for years,” according to the Independent Restaurant Coalition and Compass Lexecon’s economic report, which was released on Wednesday, 10 June.
Overall restaurant revenues plummeted 64 percent in April and May, the IRC said. Restaurant revenue in counties that have reopened remain about 45 percent below prior year levels, the report found.
Already, some well-known seafood chains, such as McCormick & Schmick’s, have been forced to close some restaurants due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and most independent seafood restaurants across America have had to move to take-out service only as state-by-state lockdowns have prohibited customers from dining in over safety concerns.
“The catastrophic downturn would not only impact the 11 million workers directly employed by independent restaurants, but also the five million workers up and down the supply chain whose livelihoods depend on the viability of these establishments,” the Independent Restaurant Coalition said in a statement accompanying the release of the report.
Already, about 5.9 million restaurant jobs (an estimated 4.5 million of which are from independent restaurants) have vanished since the start of the pandemic – the most of any industry and nearly double the figure from the next most-affected industry, IRC said.
IRC has proposed a USD 120 billion (EUR 107 billion) stabilization fund for the U.S. restaurant industry. Even with the lifting of domestic lockdowns, the industry will still suffer and be in need of supplemental funding due to the evaporation of international tourism due to the coronavirus crisis.
“An expected decline in the tourism industry will dramatically impact restaurants without a stabilization fund [as] foreign and domestic travelers spent USD 279 billion [EUR 244.7 billion] in restaurants in 2019,” IRC said.
Meanwhile, Landry-owned McCormick & Schmick’s recently closed its restaurants in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Landry’s also shut down certain Oceanaire Seafood Room and Morton’s The Steakhouse restaurants, BusinessDen reported. The company owns Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Simms Steakhouse, and Landry’s Seafood.
SeafoodSource could not reach a representative of Landry’s to ask for comment on the closings.
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