The COVID-19 and pandemic, and resulting shutdown of New Mexico, has done tremendous damage to the restaurant industry both in NM and across the country. Carol Wight, CEO of the New Mexico Restaurant Association, wrote in a prepared statement to KOB News 4 on Thursday that more than 200 restaurants have already closed permanently in New Mexico, a figure that could double in the next two to four weeks if the state doesn’t reopen soon. The impact to NM restaurants falls disproportionately on smaller “mom and pop” businesses that do not have the cash reserves to weather the shutdown or transition to a take out style of operation. Read more HERE.
OpenTable, an online restaurant-reservation service company is projecting that nearly one in four American restaurants will be closing in the near future if conditions don’t change soon. There is hope for improvement though, The company’s data shows that there are growing signs that patrons are willing to dine out again in states like Arizona and Texas where it’s allowed, though the numbers are still far below where they were last year. With NM businesses being allowed to reopen at 25% capacity, local businesses might be able to begin returning to operable levels of revenue. But dine-in restaurants and those that cannot operate with take out procedures are still going to struggle under Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s current lock down order. Read more HERE.