Appetizers: The COVID-19 Backdrop

What does COVID-19 mean for the restaurant business?

On March 11, 2020, The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic. A few days later on March 26, 2020, the US had more known cases of COVID-19 than any other country in the world. While the healthcare workers struggled to work under heavy pressure, the restaurant owners and workers started to suffer as fewer people were eating out due to fear of COVID-19.

Appetizers: COVID-19 Backdrop: Welcome

A survey of more than 5,000 restaurant owners and operators conducted by the National Restaurant Association found: Nationwide, restaurant sales were down 47% during the period from March 1 to March 22.

People were warned by governments and public health experts to keep social distance to contain the spread of the virus. Since eating at a busy restaurant is apparently not a good practice of social distancing, customers were not showing us. Vox reporters looked at the data from OpenTable, a restaurant reservation mobile application, and found that the highest drop in patronage happened to NYC and Boston on Saturday, March 14, 2020, a 64% decline compared with the same night of 2019.

Appetizers: COVID-19 Backdrop: Text

Besides losing customers, the worst had yet to come. On March 16, Governor Cuomo of New York announced that restaurants and bars to be takeout/delivery only in a tweet. That means, even if a restaurant stays open by doing takeout and delivery only, its waiters and waitress will be forced out of jobs since there are no tables to be waited. More importantly, takeout can only serve a small number of people while delivery is not what every restaurant in NYC can do. What about cocktail bars? Those upscale fine dining places? Small corner stalls that can’t afford to be on delivery apps? This is hardly a simple switch for many restaurants to make.

Appetizers: COVID-19 Backdrop: Image

So what’s next? Doors will be closed and restaurant workers will be out of jobs. The National Restaurant Association told the New York Times that it estimated 5 to 7 million restaurant workers nationwide will become unemployed during the week of March 20th. A survey from the National Restaurant Association of more than 5,000 restaurant owners across the US found that 44% of the restaurants have already closed their restaurants due to COVID-19 by March 25.

Will this be the reality of the restaurant business for NYC? It is hard to answer, but one thing is for sure that the restaurant owners and workers in NYC are fighting hard to keep the restaurants open. Under the influence of COVID-19, restaurants staying open have been conceptualized in many different forms. Since the people working in these restaurants are what keep the places alive, this project considers a restaurant open even if there is only one person working for it. The challenge in front of NYC’s restaurant owners and workers is huge, but many have dealt with the challenge with grace and creativity. This archival project wants to capture the creative, flexible, and unprecedented steps that have been taken to keep the restaurants alive.