9. Food service
Over 10 million Americans work in the food service industry. U.S. restaurants have been ordered to only offer takeout options as a preventive measure. This could compromised billions in wages for employees, many of whom are hourly workers. Chinese restaurants have been the most affected by the pandemic.
Nation’s Restaurant News reported that in Seattle, restaurants were expected to lose 20 percent of sales in the first week of March. By March 16, a dozen states had imposed restrictions on restaurants hosting dine-in customers.
On the weekend of March 14, restaurants in most of America’s big cities reported a decline in occupancy of anywhere from 30 percent-64 percent. Research firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that over 600 food service industry job cuts were directly related to the coronavirus disease and that 7.4 million jobs in the sector could either be cut or critically impacted.
