One in 6 restaurants closed

By December 20, when an extended COVID-19 “pause” on business is set to expire, restaurants in Michigan will have been closed for 118 days. That’s nearly one-third of the year.

That amount of time without business has devastated the restaurant industry, according to the National Restaurant Association, a group that represents food services businesses across the U.S.

The group estimates that more than 110,000 restaurants have shut down – long term or permanently – as a result of the pandemic and related shutdowns. That amounts to 17% of all restaurants, or about one out of every six.

That’s no surprise in Kalamazoo, where several high-profile restaurants have closed their doors in the past eight months.

The organization recently wrote a letter to Congress asking for financial relief. The restaurant industry has been pushing for a targeted stimulus bill for months.

“For every month that passes without a solution from Congress, thousands more restaurants across the country will close their doors for good,” wrote Sean Kennedy, the association’s executive vice president for public affairs.

You can read the full story on Route Fifty.