RESTAURANTS’ FUTURE GROWS DIMMER

By December, 110,000 U.S. restaurants – roughly one in six – had gone out of business this year, according to new data released by the National Restaurants Association (NRA).
Ten thousand closed permanently during September, October, and November alone, the NRA reported. 
Of the eateries that have closed this year, 17 percent had been in business an average of 16 years; another 16 percent had been open for an average of 30 years.
Of the restaurateurs that closed their businesses, a majority plan to leave the industry entirely, the NRA found in a survey.
Among 6,000 current restaurant owners the NRA surveyed, 58 percent expect to furlough or fire workers in the weeks and months ahead.
In New York City alone, 54 percent of restaurant owners say they will shut down permanently within six months without government aid, according to a related survey by the New York State Restaurant Association (NYSRA). 
A survey by the NYC Hospitality Alliance found nearly 87 percent of businesses couldn’t pay their full rent in August and 88 percent did not pay landlords in October, despite outdoor dining at full capacity and indoor dining at 25 percent capacity.
Dining spots in the City were mandated to operate at no more than 25 percent capacity and observe a 10 PM curfew by state mandate. As of 14 December, a new mandate has banned indoor dining through 28 December.
NYC already has lost an estimated 4,500 restaurants this year, NYSRA said.
“More than 500,000 restaurants – franchise, chain, and independent – are in an unprecedented economic decline,” NRA CEO Sean Kennedy wrote in a 7 December letter to the U.S. Congress. “For every month that passes without a solution from Congress, thousands more… will close their doors for good.”
The NRA says the industry is “in freefall.”
TRENDPOST: See our two other restaurant-related articles in this issue, “CUOMO SHUTS DOWN DINING IN NYC” and “CALIFORNIA: MORE LOCKDOWNS. NO SCIENTIFIC DATA REQUIRED.”
Today, thousands of restaurant workers and owners rallied in Manhattan’s Times Square protesting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order that closed down their restaurants. 
Blocking traffic and screaming “Save our restaurants! Save our jobs!” the protesters then marched across town to Cuomo’s Midtown East office. 
“The situation continues to get more and more dire, and the shutting down of indoor dining during the holidays, when New York City restaurants are providing the safety measures, is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Jeffrey Garcia, President of the Latino Restaurant Bar and Lounge Association of New York State, yelled to the crowd.
These protests will continue to escalate and we forecast a continuing number of lawsuits will be filed against the state demanding that their businesses reopen and the actions taken by governors is in violation of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
And, as we have noted, these movements will prove to be foundations for new political parties and religious movements, since none of the establishment parties have taken strong positions to reverse lockdown measures and to support small businesses.