Happy New Year, and wow, are we off to a tumultuous start. Those of us who worked in Washington D.C. or who have spent time there had our hearts in our throats this past week.
While all the dire news was coming out of the Capitol, there was more bleak news about the economy.
The Restaurant Scene Seems Grim
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 140,000 jobs were lost in December, surprising economists, who thought the country would gain about 50,000 jobs.
I don’t know where those economists live, but they only had to look around to see that more restaurants and retail businesses closed last month, a time when both should have been enjoying holiday customers.
Restaurants and bars lost 372,000 jobs in December, a steep decline from the 17,000 jobs that were lost in November.
Think about that for a second: places that often do their best business of the year instead did their worst business of the year. And they might not have been been there to do any business at all.
Deep Losses
The National Restaurant Association estimates that 110,000 restaurants closed last year, and that doesn’t include the restaurants that went into hibernation rather than close completely.
The industry ended the year with 2.5 million fewer jobs than existed before the pandemic. Restaurants thought they would have 12.3 million jobs by the end of the year. They wound up with 9.8 million employees.
Of course, the reason is COVID-19. The resurgence of the pandemic is taking a terrible toll on the food world, which has to pivot on a regular basis.
We’ve gone from restaurants closing, to opening for carryout and delivery, to opening for indoor seating, to closing for indoor seating, but allowing outdoor seating, to the weather being too cold for outdoor seating, for outdoor enclosed spaces being germ laboratories, and back to carry out and delivery again.
Some places have had such a difficult time with delivery companies that they are only doing carry out.
And in other places, local leaders have been begging people not to go out except when absolutely necessary. The mayor of London, where COVID is surging, last week told people to simply stay home.
No wonder the restaurant industry is in turmoil. And, at least until lately, Congress didn’t seem that interested in helping. The Independent Restaurant Coalition tried everything it could think of to secure $120 billion restaurant revitalization fund.
All they could wrest out of Congress at the end of the year was another round of PPP loans, which will be available starting on Monday. It’s something, and the restrictions are a little looser than those that were originally imposed last spring.
To participate, the applicants have to show that they experienced a drop in revenue of 25% or more during any quarter of 2020, and the program is open solely to organizations with 300 or fewer people, versus 500 in the previous program.
Will that be enough to get places through the winter, until more people can be vaccinated and the worst of the pandemic is behind us? That remains to be seen.
Nevertheless, They’re Persisting
In the meantime, I’ve been surprised and delighted to see that entrepreneurs are still willing to enter, or expand in the restaurant field.
At Forbes, I wrote about three places in Ann Arbor that have decided this is a good time to grow. And last week, I interviewed more entrepreneurs who have gotten into the restaurant business, via a popular entry level method: food trucks.
I’ve written about places that are teaming up with each other for special events, chefs giving space to other chefs in their restaurants. There is also a plentiful number of GoFundMe efforts still underway.
My mother always said, “People have to eat” and given that we’ve probably patronized our favorite places numerous times, it’s fun to see these newcomers give it a try, and established restaurant owners seizing on the opportunity to expand.
So, please support restaurants as much as you can. Give the new people a chance to win your business. And, hope for a mild winter.
Some Tips If You Try Veganuary
In Britain and across Europe, it’s become popular to start the year with Veganuary. It’s an organized effort to encourage people to eat vegan during the month, and it’s kind of amazing to see how widespread the effort has become.
Brands use it as an opportunity to introduce new dishes. Chefs expand their vegan offerings. Home cooks vow to forego meat for the month.
Veganuary hasn’t caught on quite as much in North America, but vegan eating in general has been gaining in popularity, especially with the wider availability of plant based meat substitutes.
Confession: I was going to do Veganuary this year, and then I forgot amid the stress of the news cycle and ate some chicken fingers. However, I’m trying to observe as much vegan and vegetarian eating this month as I can.
Here are some useful tips if you want to jump on the bandwagon.
1) Have lots of choices available. The best advice a vegan gave me was to have multiple dishes available at each meal. This is not a time for one-pot suppers, although they can be hearty and filling. Instead, roast three or four kinds of veggies, not just one variety. Prepare a couple of kinds of grains. You’ll feel satisfied and have leftovers.
2) Find restaurants that can accommodate you. This will take some planning, and menu exploration before you place your order. But, you shouldn’t have to feel that all you can get is a side salad, when everyone else is gobbling down burgers.
3) Consider different types of cuisine. Much of American dining is still based on a big piece of protein, with maybe a side or two. That isn’t the way other cultures do things. Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Middle-Eastern, Greek, African, Indian, all manner of cuisines stress a variety of dishes at each meal.
Check out ideas from Mia Kouppa, Hooni Kim and our friend Madhu Gadia for some tasty dishes.
4) Try vegan in small doses. Have a vegan weekend, or a vegan week. And don’t feel January is the only time to try it. You can explore veganism any time. (It actually might be easier in warm months when there are ample veggies and fruits to choose from.)
Any advice from our vegans and vegetarians? Feel free to comment.
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Wear a mask, get the vaccine if you can, and see you soon.