The state of the restaurant industry • Hacker News Board

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#71

Post by danenania » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 5:30 PM UTC

himinlomax wrote: post #41

vkou wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think any other country would have been able to contain this outbreak?

Other countries don't have those filthy wet markets. They ARE absolutely filthy. They're on the same hygiene levels as the bushmeat markets in the poorest African countries. You know, Ebola? Isn't it amazing that poorer, even denser countries like India or Bangladesh haven't originated the same deadly pandemics? The PRC deserves the blame for this. Scientists have known about the issues with those markets for a long…

Industrial farming practices in the US and many other countries could easily lead to similarly dangerous animal-to-human transmissions.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#72

Post by thom » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 5:31 PM UTC

I realise this is an entirely irrelevant point, but any ideas why Germany was doing so well up until this crisis?

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#73

Post by threatofrain » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 5:31 PM UTC

standardUser wrote: post #63

threatofrain wrote: post #28

Perhaps US eat-out culture will die, and those who worked those jobs will just have to find some other means by which to negotiate value from the economy.

Not if I can help it. I'm ordering delivery constantly, and as soon as restaurants reopen my ass will be in a seat every night of the week to support what is personally my favorite industry. And I'll be tipping extra.

I would argue that an interesting intervention has to come from something more, because the restaurant industry has been suffering terribly and consolidating already, perhaps due to an increasingly unhealthy middle class.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#74

Post by MuffinFlavored » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 5:32 PM UTC

hammock wrote: post #55

At this point, what good is "seated diners" data when every restaurant is takeout and delivery only?

Curious if this 40-70% drop in seated diners has been offset by takeout/delivery.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#75

Post by jedberg » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 5:33 PM UTC

thom wrote: post #72

I realise this is an entirely irrelevant point, but any ideas why Germany was doing so well up until this crisis?

My guess is that the have very few restaurants in Germany, so it's just noise.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#76

Post by selectodude » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 5:33 PM UTC

smallgovt wrote: post #70

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.

If there's a silver lining, it's that takeout is higher margin for restaurants and I'm sure takeout revenue is spiking during city shutdowns.

No it’s not. The margin on one beer is more than two entrees put together.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#77

Post by xbmcuser » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 5:34 PM UTC

trianglem wrote: post #47

threatofrain wrote: post #28

Perhaps US eat-out culture will die, and those who worked those jobs will just have to find some other means by which to negotiate value from the economy.

But there’s just so many of them. Between the hotel and restaurant industry we’re talking about more than 20 million people.

People don't realise that many of these business will be dead and wont come back after. The knock on effect will go up the supply chain. For example lobster trappers, fishers, ranchers, farmers bulk of their income comes from supplying to restaurants if restaurants are not buying prices will come down which will affect them further.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#78

Post by save_ferris » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 5:34 PM UTC

Is this really that surprising given that states and countries are now explicitly prohibiting dine-in options and mandating restaurants to be takeout only? I'd love to see this data overlaid against the changes in takeout orders.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#79

Post by Terretta » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 5:35 PM UTC

dlandis wrote: post #5

Does that data indicate that seated reservations are only presently down 56% YOY in the US ? That's pretty discouraging if that many people are still ignoring standard guidance.

The cognitive dissonance is real, it’s a sort of inverse ‘tragedy of the commons’, or akin to years of climate change behavior played out in days.

Re: The state of the restaurant industry

#80

Post by jasonshaev » Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 5:35 PM UTC

KptMarchewa wrote: post #9

I can't understand why would somebody think that putting latest data on the left is a good idea.

I thought the same thing. More than anything, having the data in a table without a basic time series graph makes it harder to visualize the impact (for me).