Laid Off in the Food Service

Facing Unemployment and Uncertainty in the Coronavirus Era

8 am Wednesday morning I got a phone call from my employer telling me I did not have a job anymore. I can’t say it wasn’t expected; sales to the restaurant industry were tanking as restaurants were shutting down across America. I hung up reeling from newfound uncertainty and anxiety about the future. It felt like a gut punch. I walked into my wife’s office and from my expression, she immediately knew some of our worst fears had been realized.

This same scene is being played out across America in thousands of kitchens, dining rooms, fish purveyors, meat purveyors, specialty food vendors, fishermen, foragers, people who work in winery tasting rooms, and wine tour operators. People across the entire strata of the hospitality business are feeling the same stinging bite.

On Wednesday, the National Restaurant Association announced that it estimates the restaurant industry’s sales will decline by $225 billion during the next three months with between five to seven million jobs lost. The full economic tsunami will be far greater. Every dollar spent in a restaurant generates two dollars in the economy. The total impact will be hard to calculate but first, we must go through the worst.

Before you shed any tears for me, know that I am resilient. Worse things have befallen many others and they survived. I have two freezers full of luxury food I stockpiled while I worked for a specialty food company…