Due to in-door dining capacity limits, some restaurants are considering closing down for the winter

I previously wrote about Surly Brewing closing its destination beer hall, citing capacity limits as the main reason the business had become unprofitable. Unfortunately, however, Surly Brewing won’t likely be the last casualty from the lockdowns, especially if lockdown rules persist through winter.

As reported by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal,

Ninetwentyfive in Wayzata, for example, is adding heated igloos for diners and installing retractable shades on its patio to keep in heat.

Restaurateur Kim Bartmann, though, notes that, “Here in Minnesota you can only tough it out eating outside for so long.” She’s installing $4,000 ionizers to clear air inside three of her restaurants in the Twin Cities, but will shut down Tiny Diner for the winter because she expects costs will be higher than sales for the winter. The restaurant’s gross revenue dropped 75% during the summer to $12,000 per week, even with the addition of larger patio space.

This might be the death of the hospitality industry

The hospitality industry was the first to be hit with orders to cease operations in March. After all the other businesses had reopened, it was also the last industry allowed to reopen, with woeful restrictions. To date, restaurants and bars can only operate at 50 percent indoor capacity, listing money for keeping seats empty.

Outside seating has allowed some establishments to offset losses from limited capacity during the summer. With winter upon us, that option is gone.  To keep sitting people outside these establishments will have to invest in costly heating systems. The ones that cannot afford to do so, such as Tiny Diner will be forced to close temporarily, which could jeopardize their long-term survival.

Conclusion

Even though it has adapted to the lockdown rules, the hospitality industry is not invincible. The longer the lockdown rules persist, the more fragile businesses will get. If policy does not change, COVID-19 closures might spell the death of the hospitality industry.