It is no secret that the restaurant business changed during the pandemic. In the beginning, mandated business closures halted indoor dining and then social distancing kept restaurants from filling and turning tables—the traditional revenue generating model for the industry. Instead, restaurants adapted to take-out orders and delivery services, changing the economics of the business, and it will likely mean changes to lease structures as well.

In the past, restaurants have served two purposes. They have delivered meals to customers, but there is also a community dining aspect to it that is somewhat interrupted during the pandemic," Jason Grinnell, a partner at Thompson Coburn LLP, tells GlobeSt.com. "A lot of restaurants were forced to adapt and embrace the food delivery partnerships. They had to embrace that sort of piece just to try to stay open and keep their customer base happy."

Now, instead of turning tables, restaurants are focused on producing meals. "They have to maximize the number of meals that they are producing," says Grinnell. "That has really changed the economics for how restaurants operate."

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Kelsi Maree Borland

Kelsi Maree Borland is a freelance journalist and magazine writer based in Los Angeles, California. For more than 5 years, she has extensively reported on the commercial real estate industry, covering major deals across all commercial asset classes, investment strategy and capital markets trends, market commentary, economic trends and new technologies disrupting and revolutionizing the industry. Her work appears daily on GlobeSt.com and regularly in Real Estate Forum Magazine. As a magazine writer, she covers lifestyle and travel trends. Her work has appeared in Angeleno, Los Angeles Magazine, Travel and Leisure and more.