The state of the restaurant industry • Hacker News Board

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#381

Post by bryanrasmussen » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 9:59 PM UTC

oarsinsync wrote: post #245

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you're home all day long one of the main spurs for going out to eat is gone, at the end of the day you're no longer too tired to make food, you're not getting home too late to make it at a good time, you don't need to save time. Thus the only spur left to wanting to order food is eating something tasty you can't make at home easily - I admit that is good but given that the delivery is also a potential virus delive…

There are a lot of us tech yuppies that either can’t cook or won’t cook. We will continue to order in all our meals. Of course that depends on the variety remaining. It may not. It’s been 3 weeks and I’m already starting to tire of my local options. Maybe I might end up learning to cook after all...

regarding all the other suggestions to learn, it might also be a really good time to start saving some money.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#382

Post by PaulDavisThe1st » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 9:59 PM UTC

coliveira wrote: post #89

bowmessage wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not exactly a realistic outlook on what will ultimately be a temporary situation.

It all depends on how long it is temporary. Current predictions are 2-3 months, which I think it is already too much time for most restaurants.

NYT opinion piece talks in terms of 3 or 4 "waves" of social distancing spread over 1-2 years.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-socia...

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#383

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 10:00 PM UTC

BenjiWiebe wrote: post #270

oarsinsync wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of us tech yuppies that either can’t cook or won’t cook. We will continue to order in all our meals. Of course that depends on the variety remaining. It may not. It’s been 3 weeks and I’m already starting to tire of my local options. Maybe I might end up learning to cook after all...

If you like the technical aspects of "tech", you could learn to love the technical aspects of cooking. You can treat cooking as a chore, an art, or a science. Your choice!

[deleted]

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#384

Post by Shermanium » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 10:01 PM UTC

We could turn all these empty hotel rooms into ICU beds if we upgrade to negative pressure ventilation, and we could turn all these empty restaurants into community testing and supply distribution centers staffed by the laid off employees paid for with federal helicopter-drop funds. Think New Deal-level changes.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#385

Post by tempestn » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 10:01 PM UTC

spookthesunset wrote: post #357

ericd wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Video calling is a thing... not like it’s solitary confinement. Also, grocery shelves will be full again as the stores limit per-customer amounts.

You live a very sheltered life if you think all humans need is video conferencing and stocked grocery shelves. There is a huge world of stuff that cannot be done remote. Sporting events, construction, weddings, restaurants, building maintenance, manufacturing, and millions of other stuff. Stuff that is critical to keeping our global economy happy. Healthy economy == healthy people. Ps: have any of the doomsayers spou…

People staying home don't just protect themselves; the more distancing is done by everyone, the better the outlook. I do agree with you that it's possible extreme lockdown measures won't have to last more than a month or two, but we really don't know at this point. Over the coming weeks we will continue to learn more about the virus and how it spreads, and testing infrastructure will continue to scale up. If the distancing measures work to get control of the outbreaks, and this can be confirmed through more extensive testing, then it should be possible to ease up and to try to find a balance between minimizing risk of spread and maintaining daily activities. Until an effective treatment/vaccine is found though, there is likely to be some level of continuing disruption.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#386

Post by viraptor » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 10:05 PM UTC

rimliu wrote: post #309

mcv wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Food delivery to homes will probably boom. That's going to be the replacement for visiting a restaurant in the coming weeks or months. But every luxury industry that involves going outside and meeting people will be wiped out. The tourist industry is going to be completely dead for a while. Hopefully it can be revived afterward. Hopefully the people involved can find other jobs in the mean time. But it's going to be…

Here we have full-blown quarantine, so all restaurants, cafes, and bars are closed. Those offering take-outs cintinue to operate. The report yesterday (first day of the quarantine) said "despite empty tables kitchen staff is busy as never before". Of course, far from every dining place offers take-outs.

> far from every dining place offers take-outs.

I suspect this is going to start changing soon. High end takeaways will have to happen where restaurants would fail otherwise.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#387

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 10:05 PM UTC

ericd wrote: post #379

spookthesunset wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 weeks tops. Calling it now. 2 months of this will result in rioting and all kinds of crazy shit. And for what? The data based in SK and Singapore doesn’t suggest this virus is worth risking compete societal collapse. Testing there is showing a >1% death rate and because of how those tests work, it is provably about a half to a full order of magnitude lower. Sorry doomsayers, you better have some good evidence to su…

You seem like you're panicking. If you need evidence for the necessity, go read literally anything about what Italy is facing. China locked down cities with 0 infections pretty completely for ~4 weeks, and they still have isolation measures going. I believe the heavily hit cities are still totally locked down. This is what it took to get numbers under control once it had spread, and because of the US' late reaction,…

[deleted]

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#388

Post by tempestn » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 10:06 PM UTC

ericd wrote: post #379

spookthesunset wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 weeks tops. Calling it now. 2 months of this will result in rioting and all kinds of crazy shit. And for what? The data based in SK and Singapore doesn’t suggest this virus is worth risking compete societal collapse. Testing there is showing a >1% death rate and because of how those tests work, it is provably about a half to a full order of magnitude lower. Sorry doomsayers, you better have some good evidence to su…

You seem like you're panicking. If you need evidence for the necessity, go read literally anything about what Italy is facing. China locked down cities with 0 infections pretty completely for ~4 weeks, and they still have isolation measures going. I believe the heavily hit cities are still totally locked down. This is what it took to get numbers under control once it had spread, and because of the US' late reaction,…

And because China reacted with extreme measures, they got the virus under control, and are now starting to reduce the restrictions, and commerce is starting back up. It's nowhere near normal, but by reacting quickly and decisively you reduce the likelihood of longer lockdowns being required in the future (as well as the likelihood of significant loss of life).

This video gives a sense of the measures taken in cities outside of Wuhan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfsdJGj3-jM

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#389

Post by spookthesunset » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 10:06 PM UTC

ericd wrote: post #379

spookthesunset wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 weeks tops. Calling it now. 2 months of this will result in rioting and all kinds of crazy shit. And for what? The data based in SK and Singapore doesn’t suggest this virus is worth risking compete societal collapse. Testing there is showing a >1% death rate and because of how those tests work, it is provably about a half to a full order of magnitude lower. Sorry doomsayers, you better have some good evidence to su…

You seem like you're panicking. If you need evidence for the necessity, go read literally anything about what Italy is facing. China locked down cities with 0 infections pretty completely for ~4 weeks, and they still have isolation measures going. I believe the heavily hit cities are still totally locked down. This is what it took to get numbers under control once it had spread, and because of the US' late reaction,…

America is not even close to Italy. Not demographically, not density, not medically. Nothing is the same between us. And it isn't "Italy" it is a region in Italy with the problem. Same with china. China isn't locking down "China". Just a small part of it. You cannot take those two datapoints and apply them to the rest of the world. Not even close.

And I'm not panicking, I'm just tired of people running around doomsaying. There is so much trash information out there and people have completely shut down their ability to think rationally. It kinda ticks me off.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#390

Post by arbitrary_name » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 10:07 PM UTC

spookthesunset wrote: post #361

2019-nCoV wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People in Hubei are closing in on 3 months of lockdown. Other provinces not far behind. Are Americans really that uncivilised they cannot bear the thought of several months locked down in the comfort of their own homes?

There is so much doomsday nonsense like your post I don’t know where to start. People have lost their god damn minds on the internet. Go outside and go on a walk. If you don’t understand why a 3 month country wide lockdown would be orders of magnitude more dangerous than this virus, you need to snap yourself out of the trance you are in. People have lost their minds around here.

Perhaps you have lost your cool a little? I am quite content to work from home, go hiking on the weekends and meet up with friends in open spaces as allowed by the lock down rules. I can arguably go skating, surfing, walking and much more.

Its not ideal, but if it's required, I'll do it. We are not going to fall apart. Except for twitchy individuals like you, it seems...