At least 100,000 restaurants will close this year because of the pandemic, the National Restaurant Association recently predicted. Perhaps more surprising, the association also found that 60% of operators said their total operational costs, as a percent of sales, are higher than they were before COVID-19. Further, on average, restaurant operators say their staffing is just 71% of typical levels. 

Many restaurants did experience a shift from the first days of the Coronavirus, when whole cities were shut down, to now, when operators can provide take-out  businesses and outdoor dining. According to an earlier study by the NRA, 67% of the 3,500 operators surveyed have added curbside takeout.

And demand for such offerings has risen. Before the lockdowns, just under 60% of adults ordered their dinner via takeout or delivery from a restaurant during the previous week but over the last four months, 65% of adults, on average, ordered takeout or delivery for dinner on a weekly basis. Similarly at lunch, an average of 45% of adults ordered in during the prior week at the time of the survey, a spike from 37% in early March.