No industry has been harder hit by the pandemic than hospitality. The figure below is the percent change in seated dinners compared to one year ago based on data from Open Table. The data shows just how bad the last year was for restaurants. It also shows a geographic and cultural divide. Places like Florida and Texas nearly recovered their dining habits this fall, despite outbreaks. Coastal cities never came close, even when virus counts were low. And now dining is down all over the country, though still more popular in Las Vegas, Florida and Texas.
Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow her on Twitter here.
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