Half Of Americans Report Favorite Restaurants Closed Due To Pandemic

While Americans are doing everything they can to support businesses during tough times, sometimes it’s not enough to keep restaurants from closing up. A new survey from LendingTree actually found that 50% of Americans said one or more restaurants they loved have closed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

This problem was especially worse in the Northeast part of the country with a whopping total of 65% of Americans saying one of their favorite restaurants closed. Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst for LendingTree, opens up a bit more about the report.

Americans say one or more of their beloved restaurants have closed due to COVID

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“The pandemic has been an absolute catastrophe for the restaurant business,” he says. “So many have closed and so many more are teetering on the edge and will likely continue to until we see a major decrease in COVID-19 cases and these restaurants are open to their full capacity. That’s likely not happening anytime soon.”

LendingTree surveyed 1,023 Americans, and the report also found that 32% of respondents said they’re focusing on eating at local establishments instead of chains. Moreover, 28% said they’ve increased tipping at restaurants, 26% said they’ve increased tipping for food delivery, and 17% saying they’ve increased tipping for takeout.

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Half Of Americans Report Favorite Restaurants Closed Due To Pandemic — Graph shows decline in restaurant participation due to COVID / Statista

However, this isn’t the case for all respondents. The report states that 23 percent of respondents didn’t leave a tip the last time they picked up takeout and 10 percent said they didn’t tip the last time they ordered delivery. “If you’re doing OK financially right now, you really should tip more,” says Schultz. “A little extra tip likely won’t be a huge imposition on you, but for folks who need those tips to survive, those little extras can add up to a lot and make a real difference.”

Some other surprising and interesting statistics from the report claim that 70 percent have dined indoors at least once during the pandemic and 41 percent said they’ve left a restaurant because it was overcrowded or people weren’t wearing masks.