COVID-19 pandemic exposes new challenges for restaurant industry

Though many restaurants have reopened for indoor dining across the country, many workers have not returned.

When COVID-19 reached the U.S. and government restrictions set in -- closing indoor dining in much of the country -- millions of restaurant workers found themselves without jobs. But now, as restaurants are reopening and people are once again going out to eat, owners are facing a different challenge: Their workers haven't returned. "The thing I remember most about those early months and weeks was the word 'grief,'" said Sava Farah, owner of The Pulpo Group, which operates three restaurants in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "We had to lay off over 200 employees that we called family." At the time, no one knew how long restaurants would be forced to supplant their revenue with to-go orders and outdoor dining. For many, that was never going to cut it. The National Restaurant Association estimates that in the first six months of the pandemic, nearly one in six restaurants -- almost 100,000 businesses -- shut down.