New York City and New Jersey indoor dining capacity get boosted to 50 percent on Friday for the first time since the March 2020 shutdown, and New York restaurants outside the five boroughs jump to 75 percent capacity. The coordinated reopening is slightly different in Connecticut, where capacity restrictions lift entirely for most businesses. Ida Siegal and Tracie Strahan report.
It's no surprise that New York City's restaurants were devastated by the pandemic, but a new industry survey suggests virtually no one escaped without their business being crushed.
Of the hundreds of restaurants, bars and nightclubs responding to an NYC Hospitality Alliance survey, 75 percent saw revenue fall by at least half in 2020 over 2019.
Hardly anyone was any luckier -- 96 percent of respondents lost at least a quarter of their revenue last year, according to the data released Wednesday.
Perhaps more ominous for the industry, though, was the survey's findings on owners' future plans. Asked if they would stay open post-pandemic without financial support like rent aid and eviction moratoriums, only 15 percent said yes, and nearly half said a firm no.
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The nonprofit trade group surveyed 401 establishments from Feb. 23 to March 12.
