NYC Could Lose Nearly 12,000 Restaurants to the Pandemic
That level of closures could lead to almost 159,000 job losses.
October 6, 2020 | Rayna Katz | GlobeSt.com
On the list of amenities that make New York City special, the large and diverse collection of restaurants rank high. Not only do they provide an unmatched array of ethnic cuisines to both residents and tourists, they also enrich the city’s coffers. The restaurant industry provided NYC with approximately 15% of its total taxable sales across the city in 2019.
More specifically, Gotham’s restaurant industry had 23,650 establishments in 2019, provided 317,800 jobs, paid $10.7 billion in total wages citywide, and made nearly $27 billion in taxable sales.
But New York City appears poised to lose a good portion of that largeness. Estimates suggest that one-third to one-half of bars and restaurants that were open pre-pandemic will close in six months to a year, according to a report by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.
