The topic of this restaurant business ideas podcast episode again centers around the crisis restaurant owners find themselves in due to the re-enabled COVID-19 business restrictions. This episode is a result of so many of my members facing dining room closures, a Congress that has ignored the cries of the industry for way too long and thousands of people dying every day. What I have to share with you is both sobering and hopeful.

First, the implementation of these restrictions on the restaurant industry have been devastating. Let me be clear, I believe we need to save lives, and I believe the pandemic is real. I also have a deep concern for the families that are impacted financially from restaurant owners who could lose everything to the line employees who could end up getting evicted from their homes because their jobs have disappeared.

On top of that, I'm absolutely pissed off at our federal government, at their absolute lack of interest in bailing out the largest employer in the United States, the hospitality industry. At the time of me recording this podcast, Congress is only now at the 11th hour trying to come up with some small corrective measure that could help, but the reality on the ground is that it's probably too late for too many.

From what I've seen, by the end of 2020, we could have lost almost 40 percent of independent restaurants in the United States. It makes me want to cry. These inconsistent and sometimes seemingly contradictory business restrictions make restaurant owners lose hope. Their sales dropped from thousands of dollars a day as they got their businesses back up and running, almost back to normal for many overnight, to closing again seeing sales drop back to the hundreds in one day.

Not to mention pivot fatigue is real. Back in March 2020 restaurant owners did whatever they could from becoming a grocery store to adding delivery for dine-in restaurants. This second round of business closures doesn’t offer the same pivoting opportunities, especially with the winter season upon us.

Sponsor

This episode is being brought to you by The Catering Coach. If you are a restaurant owner now more than ever, you need catering as a profitable, proven multiple revenue stream. But right now, who has the time to establish all the checklists, systems, packing lists and proven methods to grow your catering business? And who are your catering customers when there are very few catering events? You need The Catering Coach. Sandy Korem, the catering coach, and her team will show you the path to immediate catering profits by taking out all the guesswork of what works right now in this ever-changing world. Catering is not what it was last year, but catering is still profits, profits, profits. Learn the systems, learn the checklists, learn the out of the box methods that successful restaurateurs are using right now to be catering profitable. Click here to see if The Catering Coach is right for you.

Rate, Review, & Subscribe

Please rate and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you happen to listen to podcasts. By leaving us a review, other restaurant pros seeking out this information are able to find it. I read the reviews and hearing how this information has benefited you, does wonders for me. Also, if you find any of the discussions helpful, share them! The more restaurant pros who have access to them the better we become as an industry.

Links mentioned in this episode:

• 3 Principles of Restaurant Success
• The Catering Coach