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The state of the restaurant industry

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Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#431

Post by tjs8rj »

evo_9 wrote: post #236

My wife an I opened a nail and wax salon 6 months ago. Really don't know what to do, so far they haven't asked us to shutdown. Business had been steadily growing and we are about break-even. No idea how this will play-out, what if anything the building owner can do to help out, or how the federal help might work for a small business like ours. The rent and payroll are our biggest expenses naturally, we can of course…

Many localities, states, and the federal government have programs to freeze rents, mortgages, and provide assistance in the form of interest-free or low-interest loans to help you make ends meet if necessary!

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#432

Post by quickthrowman »

mcv wrote: post #208
SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. My town shut down restaurant eat in this week, but when I went my favorite Thai place for pickup the owner said they had one of their busiest Saturdays ever. Despite fear, rational or not, people still need to eat.

I heard of at least one fancy restaurant that announced they're going to offer take-out and delivery soon. It's going to be the only way to survive.

Adapt or die, many upscale restaurants in my area are doing the same.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#433

Post by quickthrowman »

senordevnyc wrote: post #423
bsder wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition, restaurant supply chains aren't impacted by idiots doing panic buying. So, you can get pad thai takeout from a restaurant. But you may not be able to get a box of noodles from a grocery store.

People are buying triple or quadruple their normal weekly amount in anticipation of being locked down and not being able / willing to go out. That’s not “panic buying”, it’s quite prudent given what has happened to China and Italy.

Perhaps China forbid grocery store visits, but Italy did not and the US will not either. It’s panic, pure and simple (unless you’re in a high-risk category, then it’s simply preparing to truly isolate)

I’m 36 and I’m not worried about catching the coronavirus, I’m worried about spreading it.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#435

Post by quickthrowman »

pc86 wrote: post #243
wincy wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who would order a takeout beer? If I was going to get takeout and wanted a beer I’d stop at a liquor store or gas station on my way home.

In Pennsylvania at least liquor stores are state run and closed at the moment. You can get beer or wine at some gas stations but that's about it. Anything less popular than huge international brands or very, very popular micro-brews you typically have to go to a beer distributor for and most of those are closed, too (the only ones open are those defying the Governor's strong recommendation to close). Basically if you…

It’s crazy that PA shut down the liquor stores, hopefully there’s enough beer and wine left for the truly bad alcoholics that will seize and die without it, seems like a very foolish decision to me, to add the potential strain of alcoholics in withdrawal to the medical system.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#436

Post by dillonmckay »

charwalker wrote: post #428
dillonmckay wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are you getting this info from?

Various headlines as different states open up application options, see below. A reduction in hours or cuts to zero may be considered constructive dismissal and allow collection of benefits but many states are allowing expedited collection or no wait times. Layoffs have hit hard and these types of headlines have floated around for a lot of states. https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/1... https:/…

Thanks for that info.

I had assumed there was some Federal coordination, but I see it is up to each state to take initiative.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#437

Post by vkou »

teknopaul wrote: post #407
bluedino wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my state it's over 70% All the drive-throughs only had 1-2 cars in them today at lunch, instead of the line being wrapped around the building like usual.

Is it even possible to get covid-19 waiting in your car for auto-food?

It's possible to get it from the poor kid who is cutting lettuce in the drive-through's kitchen.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#438

Post by vkou »

whatshisface wrote: post #212
jborichevskiy wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not an economist (just trying to understand all this) but wouldn’t this just be kicking the can down the road? I understand how loans and credit works in healthy markets/seasons but to me this feels like making a bet that these businesses would be able to take this infusion, weather out the storm, and then raise profits enough above what they were before to pay it all back. It’s fundamentally different from me starti…

If you can kick the can down the road until the virus goes away, you just saved the whole economy. The ability of my local Chinese place to serve customers is undiminished, my desire to eat Chinese food is undiminished, and all that's in the way is an ultimately temporary law.

> The ability of my local Chinese place to serve customers is undiminished, my desire to eat Chinese food is undiminished, and all that's in the way is an ultimately temporary law.

Six months from now, when the quarantine ends, you aren't going to go to your local Teriyaki and Wok, and order six months wroth of Chinese food.

The restaurant will never recoup those six lost months of rent. The employees will never recoup those six lost months of wages. These loans will never be repaid.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#439

Post by amalcon »

vonmoltke wrote: post #302
inetknght wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> on the condition that they pay employees normal wages for those days. "Normal wages" for many restaurant workers in the U.S. exclude tips. Without tips, "normal wages" is below the minimum wage. While it might better than nothing, it's not liveable.

> "Normal wages" for many restaurant workers in the U.S. exclude tips. Without tips, "normal wages" is below the minimum wage. Restaurants are required to bump tipped employees up to the non-tipped minimum wage if the tips don't put them over it. Thus, "normal wages" in this case would be the non-tipped minimum wage.

They are "required to", but this is rarely enforced, so they very frequently don't actually do this.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#440

Post by chii »

cyphar wrote: post #430
creato wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even delivered groceries are significantly cheaper than eating out. That difference is mostly the income of restaurant workers.

On the other hand, restaurants are operating on economies of scale (and they get wholesale prices for their raw materials -- their groceries are much cheaper per-portion than yours). Don't get me wrong, cooking at home can be cheaper than eating out -- but only if you're cooking large batches of food or are buying ingredients that can be used for more than one meal. You'd be surprised how cheap individual portions of…

> Don't get me wrong, cooking at home can be cheaper than eating out

cost of raw materials in restaurants are a very small portion of the overall bill the customer pays. A large portion is rent, and an even larger portion is labour/wages. I hear the margins are razor thin at around 5-10% (which is low considering the risks). Not to mention capital expenditure (of which the value, i guess, isn't gonna disappear overnight, so there's that).

Cooking at home also tends to be food that you get in season and/or on discount. You don't have a menu at home, and hence, costs at home are both lower in raw materials, and labour costs are zero (assuming you don't pay yourself, and your time isn't able to be spent productively anyway so zero opportunity cost).

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