It was a year ago today that the Stay-at-Home order went into effect. Several Phases later the restaurant industry is now operating at 75-percent capacity, but many did not survive. Louisiana Restaurant Association President Stan Harris said anywhere from 20 to 25-percent of restaurants and bars have closed in the last year.
“And that could be for an abundance of things but a lot of it has to do with the fact that they just couldn’t operate at a volume that would allow them to stay in business,” said Harris.
The restaurant industry is the largest private employer in the state. Harris said approximately 27,000 restaurant workers lost their jobs in the last year.
“About 18,000 of those jobs are in the New Orleans metro area, but the rest are around the state,” said Harris.
Harris said the industry is slowly starting to come back but it’s not a complete rebound with capacity limited to 75-percent and social distancing still in effect. But Harris is encouraged by the vaccine rollout.
“We think that the more people we can encourage to get that vaccine and to consider that is going to help us get through this a whole lot quicker,” said Harris.
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