With each week, more data emerges to show how the COVID-19 pandemic is permanently reshaping the restaurant industry, Bloomberg News reported. The world is currently on track for a radical overhaul of its food-service landscape: Hundreds have filed for bankruptcy over the last three months, according to consulting firm Aaron Allen & Associates, and the situation is poised to keep worsening. “Based on our estimates, we believe up to 10% of all restaurants globally will disappear, with 20% or more also going through a restructuring process,” said founder Aaron Allen. “This is a conservative case, in our view.” Allen estimates there are about 22 million restaurants worldwide, so the projection implies that 2.2 million of them will close. In the U.S., the industry employs 15.6 million workers, according to the National Restaurant Association. OpenTable, which tracks restaurant activity via reservations, estimates the failure rate could be even higher. Even before the global pandemic caused a dramatic and unprecedented shift in consumer behavior, the restaurant industry was suffering from rising debt and too much competition.
