March 16 marked the one-year anniversary of Delaware’s decision to shut down restaurants for indoor dining with almost no notice. At that defining moment, I wrote a message to the industry to foreshadow what we could have never imagined and what was inevitably ahead of us. “We are moving into very difficult and uncharted waters. These are our people and our livelihoods — all weighing heavily on me today. None of this has ever been anticipated nor have we experienced anything to this magnitude.”
To put it bluntly — it was a freaking terrible year. Shuttered eateries, mass layoffs and staggering revenue losses plagued the restaurant industry in the most tortuous time any of us could have imagined ... and the impact in the wake of COVID-19 won’t go away any time soon.
As those early weeks turned into months, our industry’s resolve was unwavering. Restaurants fed health care workers and first responders and packed family meals for low-income children not in school. They held on to their people the best they could — creating jobs where no jobs existed. Restaurants supported their neighbors, and those neighbors rallied around restaurants. Together with the tremendous community support, the Delaware Restaurant Association raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for restaurant worker relief. Restaurateurs held each other up and stayed open … they got up each day to serve their communities. They did not give up on their American dream.
Our local restaurants lost more than $1.2 billion in revenues since last March and shed jobs at a dizzying pace. Today, as other business sectors have fully recovered, more than 10,000 (still unemployed) restaurant workers are not earning a paycheck. Their jobs are important — vital in fact — for their families and children they support.
Delaware restaurants are still struggling and are not yet in recovery. Restaurants are in a transitional phase — still operating at half-capacity, and most continuing to lose money every day they remain open. Restaurants united with one voice behind the Delaware Restaurant Association and the National Restaurant Association to advocate for their survival when no one else would. Early state loans and grants and two rounds of federal Paycheck Protection Program loans were targeted to help restaurants survive and retain as many employees as they could. The recent passage of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund — conceived with our national partners and championed by Sens. Chris Coons and Tom Carper, both D-Del. — will help fund the hardest-hit small- and medium-sized restaurants and help kickstart their recovery.
Restaurants are finding silver linings on this anniversary. With more of our citizens receiving vaccinations and with the hope that capacity restrictions will ease, many people are finding their way back to their once-familiar neighborhood pub and favorite eatery and finding joy in newly created outdoor spaces. They love ordering their tacos to go with a sealed margarita and are grateful that cool things are coming out of this pandemic.
Restaurants have gotten better … they have had no choice. In a year like no other, there is light at the end of the tunnel for all of us that love restaurants.
Carrie Leishman is president and CEO of the Delaware Restaurant Association.
