Coronavirus Pandemic Wreaks Havoc
On March restaurant sales. The rapid decline in restaurant sales during the second half of March due to the COVID-19 pandemic was enough to push the industry down to its worst month in decades. Same-store sales for restaurants dropped 28.3% in March. The 28.3% decline does not show the full impact the virus outbreak is having on restaurants. Same-store sales for the industry dropped more than 65% during the last two weeks of the month.
Restaurants Are Transforming into Grocery Stores
Because of coronavirus. Across the country, cafes and restaurants are scrambling to keep their businesses afloat. Restaurants that relied on dine-in customers are rapidly coming up with ways to hold onto customers who are no longer allowed into dining rooms. Over 30 Denny’s locations in Oregon and California are now selling groceries — including paper goods, cheese, bread, raw and deli meat and fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables — in their parking lots. Panera Bread is also expanding into groceries, selling items like bagels, bread, gallons of milk, yogurt and fresh produce.
Did You Know?
Exclusive interview with Chef David Burke. Bielat Santore & Company’s “Thursday Restaurant Rap” continues today with Chef David Burke, television celebrity, cookbook author, philanthropist and one of the leading pioneers in American cooking today. This series appears each Thursday within the company’s Restaurant Industry Alert daily bulletins. It presents recorded virtual video interviews with local restauranteurs and other industry professionals, many of who are the firm’s clients, customers and associates.
Employee Tip
N.J. announces new date for additional $600 unemployment payment. Over the past three weeks, more than 576,000 New Jersey residents have filed for unemployment benefits as businesses have shut down or laid off workers amid the coronavirus pandemic. The state said people already collecting unemployment will begin to see their $600 supplemental unemployment benefit arrive April 14 (for the week of March 30th).
Restaurant Industry Daily Alerts
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Thank you and remember all of the “Restaurant Industry Alerts” can be found at www.123bsc.com/news/. We intend to continue to keep you informed as we all look for an end to this crisis.
