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Restaurants will be the last industry to recover from the pandemic

SACRAMENTO— One full year after the federal government asked Americans for just “two weeks to slow the spread,” the state and nation appear to finally be winning the battle against the coronavirus – and, for California restaurants, it is not a moment too soon.

In California, March 15^th marks the one-year anniversary of the start of restaurant shutdowns, first with the closure of restaurants in the City of Los Angeles, followed by an announcement the next day of statewide restaurant closures. During the last 12 months, California restaurants have been allowed to operate only in strictly limited ways, and have been reopened only to be forced to close multiple times during that period. 

The Last Year at a Glance

• In California alone, 900,000-1 million restaurant jobs were lost; many of these jobs – though, not all – have come back with the limited reopening of restaurants
• Nationwide, 110,000 restaurants – or 1 in 6 – closed
• Nationwide, restaurants and food service sales were down $240 billion from expected levels for 2020

“Restaurants were the first businesses forced to shut down, and in California, 12 months later, we are still pushing to safely get our dining rooms back open,” President and CEO of the California Restaurant Association, Jot Condie, said. “The economic losses to restaurants, our workforce and their communities have been disproportionately enormous. Even with the much-needed aid being delivered by the federal and state governments, the next steps that our public officials take will be critical.  Every restaurant owner in this state knows that for them, the road to true recovery will be long. And the state must remove any obstacles from that road.”