States halt and reverse their preparations to reopen
Chicago A spike in new COVID-19 cases across the nation has forced several states to postpone or temporarily reverse their plans to reopen.
Restaurant dining rooms in Texas are limited to 50% capacity starting this week, but they may still be open. Previously, dining rooms could only be used to the fullest extent possible.
For an extra three weeks, North Carolina kept its 50% capacity limit in place. For an additional month, Louisiana will stick to the second phase of its reopening plan, which caps dining rooms at 50% occupancy. The 50% capacity limit that applies to Maine will likewise stand.
Nevada will maintain capacity at a level that permits social separation between tables of six feet.
New Jersey’s indoor dining ban, which was supposed to end this week, has been extended indefinitely.
The NPD Group claims that the increase in instances has an effect on restaurant recovery. In the week ending June 21, customer transactions at large US restaurant chains fell 13% year over year, which was a little less than the 12% fall seen the week before. That was the first instance since the middle of April when there wasn’t an an improvement in the tendency from year to year.
The NPD Group’s food industry adviser, David Portalatin, predicted that there would be some hiccups on the US restaurant industry’s route to recovery. “There is no road map because the pandemic isn’t over and, as is frequently mentioned, is ‘unprecedented.”
States that reported the highest number of new COVID-19 cases also saw the steepest reductions. There was a 5-point drop in transactions over the previous year in Arizona and North Carolina. Consumer transactions were steady in Texas and California and decreased by 2 and 4 points, respectively, in Florida and Nevada.
There was a minor improvement in full-service restaurants, as year-over-year transactions decreased by 24%, as opposed to a 26% decline in the week ending June 14. Quick-service restaurant transactions decreased by 12% in comparison to a 11% decrease from the week before.
The percentage of restaurant units permitted to resume dine-in business rose from 74% to 79% notwithstanding the setback.
“As restaurants start to reestablish on-premise operations, adapt and execute new procedures and regulations, and keep plans fluid because things might change suddenly, the foodservice industry is solidly in the restart phase,” Mr. Portalatin stated.