DM Monitoring
NEW YORK: New York City’s restaurant industry has been thrown from its pinnacle in 2019 after a decade of rapid development to the bottom by the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic this year, and is now facing a gloomy future in 2021, according to an official report recently issued by the state government of New York.
Various estimates project that during the next six months to a year, one-third to one-half of the city’s restaurants and bars that existed prior to the pandemic may close permanently, according to “The Restaurant Industry in New York City: Tracking the Recovery” issued by Office of the New York State Comptroller and approved by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and Deputy Comptroller Rahul Jain.
If one-third of them close, the city would lose nearly 8,000 establishments in the industry, and 106,000 jobs. If the closures rose to 50 percent, nearly 12,000 restaurants and bars would shutter and almost 159,000 jobs would be lost, according to the report.
“Since March 2020, the restaurant industry has been hit very hard by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the report, adding that “mandatory closures, stay-at-home and social distancing orders, the onset of a severe economic recession, and travel restrictions have resulted in unprecedented upheaval for the industry.”
“As a result, many restaurants and bars have closed or significantly reduced their operations. Since these establishments often operate on tight margins in the best of times, there are growing fears that many will be forced to close permanently if financial support is not forthcoming,” it added.
In March 2020, New York City became the epicenter of the pandemic in the nation, causing unprecedented effects, and by April, restaurant employment had dropped to 91,000 jobs as severe restrictions were imposed on business practices. As rules loosened and outdoor dining was permitted, employment rose, reaching 174,000 jobs in August, according to the report.
Since the pandemic began, many restaurants have explored new business models in order to generate revenues. Some establishments that had not offered takeout and delivery began those services. Others operated as specialty food markets offering items not available at local stores, said the report.
Still others sold do-it-yourself kits with menu items such as pizza and tacos, or offered gourmet meals requiring minimal preparation. With outside financial support to cover costs, some restaurants became food banks, it added.
“Another strategy involved obtaining permits for safe outside dining,” said the report, adding that on June 19, 2020, the city started the Open Streets program, which issued special sidewalk and roadway permits.
At the end of June, the city expanded its Open Streets program, which closed off streets to vehicle traffic, to allow restaurants that participated in the Open Streets program to set up tables in the traffic-free streets. Throughout the summer, new locations and additional hours were added to the Open Streets program.
