[ceejayoz]

The restaurant industry would be wise to note that the steep decline in customers preceded the lockdowns, and are being very slow to tick back up in states that have lifted theirs.

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/05/19/american...

Getting people to come back will require making them feel safe, regardless of whether the government says they can open.

[downerending]

People like me stopped going to restaurants well before governors were even seriously talking about lockdowns, and won't be going back for many months, if not many years.

That said, at least in the US, there are quite a lot of people that will go back as soon as lockdowns end. And in-person service is a big deal, because people dining in drink a lot of booze, which is a big moneymaker. If I ran a restaurant, I'd be praying for this moment.

[SpicyLemonZest]

A dataset showing that restaurants had zero customers during lockdowns can't possibly be accurate, since they're still open for takeout. I'm sure there's some real trend being exhibited here, but how do we know people aren't just not using OpenTable?

[ceejayoz]

I'd figured wording like "fill tables" and "restaurant reservations" made it clear enough they were talking about eat-in, not takeout?