Restaurants Surviving the 2020-2021 Pandemic has been a challenge. Restaurant profits are always on an owner’s mind. But though the vaccine distribution has helped ease restrictions. restaurants are still struggling. Your favorite venue may still be at risk. 

The pandemic of 2020 challenged everything; owners were faced with unimaginable hurdles. Many of them had to learn crisis management under fire.  Some venues survived, some suffocated to death, others choose to close. Patrons too were face-to-face with a new reality: perhaps my favorite spot may not be there when it is all over. 

So while the restaurant industry as a whole was lobbying for help from Congress, other grass-root help was solicited from you, the public. Sites sprang up such as Rally For Restaurants,  and there were protests across the country, such as this one in New York City in 2020. 

Local restaurants in the New York City and New Jersey areas reached out to companies such as A2Z Restaurant Consulting, Blackwood Hospitality, or Clark Wolfe. while some restaurant chains contacted Synergy Consulting.  Even as far away as South and Central America Data Capital provided access to consultants.

And while patrons in New York and New Jersey are feeling relieved as vaccinations go up, the spread of COVID-19 comes down, and restaurants are beginning to return to fuller capacity, the industry is still begging for more aid to help recover from 2020.

Many patrons felt as though they were helping by ordering delivery. And while ordering for pick-up did help,  delivery merely created cash flow, not profits.  In May of 2020, The Washington Post published an article entitled

Restaurants are barely surviving. Delivery apps will kill them. Their fees make it impossible to turn a profit.

This was echoed by many others, including Retolabs.com with their article”How Food Delivery Apps Are Killing Your Restaurant Business.”

But many media outlets were sounding the alarm long before the pandemic struck in 2020.  The New Yorker published “How Delivery Apps May Put Your Favorite Restaurant Out of Business” ways back in 2018.

Restaurants Surviving the 2020-2021 Pandemic

If the 2020 COVID19 pandemic impact on local restaurants taught us anything, it is the reality that nothing is for certain and everything is subject to change. 

In an article by A2Z Restaurant Consulting, they provided tips and a better understanding of how to stay alive during and post the COVID19 pandemic.  Among those is installing coin-operated amusements.

In a follow-up article, I’ll delve into an under-the-radar opportunity for restaurants, bars, and their patrons.