Closed All At Once: Restaurant Industry Faces Collapse
Rapid shutdowns to stem the coronavirus have delivered an unprecedented blow to restaurants around the U.S. Many are quickly running out of cash and their workers are losing their jobs.
These are anxious times for people like Melvin Rodrigue, who lived through Hurricane Katrina. It destroyed his home and shut down his famed Galatoire's restaurant in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
This is far worse, he says.
"I think Katrina is going to prove to be a cakewalk compared to this," Rodrigue says. Insurance paid for his losses then. This time, it won't.
in cities have thrown restaurants across the country into sudden and complete disarray. Revenue dried up abruptly, workers faced mass layoffs and restaurant executives tried to manage the resulting chaos.
