COVID-19 and Restaurants in Canada – Has cost 800,000 jobs since March 1

Restaurants Canada estimates that 800,000 foodservice jobs have already been lost nationwide due to COVID-19 and might not return if current conditions continue.

With restaurants now struggling to pay rent and other bills due in April, the national association has conducted a survey to shed light on the state of the industry. Responses from foodservice operators across the country have revealed:

Four out of five restaurants have laid off employees since March 1.
Seven out of 10 foodservice operators will further cut back on staff hours or lay off more employees if conditions do not improve.
Nearly one out of 10 restaurants have already closed permanently and another 18 per cent will permanently close within a month if current conditions continue.
“Not only was our industry among the first to feel the impacts of COVID-19, we’ve been one of the hardest hit so far, with nearly two thirds of our workforce now lost,” said Shanna Munro, Restaurants Canada President and CEO. ”In our 75 years of existence as Canada’s national foodservice association, these are by far the worst numbers we have ever seen.”

Canada’s $93 billion foodservice industry represents 4 per cent of the country’s GDP. If conditions do not improve, Restaurants Canada estimates that foodservice sales will be down nearly $20 billion for the second quarter of 2020.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @ COVID-19 has cost the foodservice sector 800,000 jobs since March 1 | Restaurants Canada (formerly CRFA)