Ohio Restaurant Association: Half of Ohio's restaurants, bars could close permanently - The Cincinnati Enquirer

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Sarah Brookbank Cincinnati Enquirer

Published 2:18 PM EDT Aug 10, 2020

Half of Ohio’s restaurant and bar owners are concerned they will be forced to permanently close within nine months, according to a poll from the Ohio Restaurant Association. 

It's a stark statistic as many bars and restaurants are suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has temporarily closed restaurants and slashed occupancy for those that remain open.

The Ohio Restaurant Association (ORA) has conducted weekly polls over the past several months across Ohio to "gauge the impacts of COVID-19 on the industry, and the results continue to be devastating."

If current capacities continue, 54% of restaurants anticipate forced closure within nine months, the ORA found in its most recent poll.

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"This number has been steadily increasing over the past 30 days but jumped from 31% to 54% in the past week. Only 30% of restaurants believe they can operate for more than a year or indefinitely at their current capacity," the poll found.

The most recent survey, conducted over three days at the end of July and early August, had 107 total respondents.

"The COVID-19 pandemic and capacity/curfew limitations continue to dishearten the majority of Ohio’s restaurants," President and CEO of the ORA John Barker said in a statement. "While some industry sectors such as pizza are experiencing better sales, most have experienced significant sales losses for months and 54% said in our poll that they fear that they will not be able to sustain their business and will be forced to close in the next year.”

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The ORA poll found these statistics:

• More than 75% of Ohio restaurants have now reopened. 
• Another 4% of respondents plan to reopen their dining rooms soon while 17% of respondents do not plan to reopen at this time, an increase of 8% from two weeks ago.
• Most restaurants are operating at 50% or less of their normal capacity. 
• Only 11% are operating at more than 75% capacity while none of the reporting dining rooms have been able to increase their normal capacity.
• Given the current guidelines, most restaurants do not anticipate breaking even in 2020. Only 17% of respondents believe they will be able to reach break-even sales in 2020 – down from the week prior (24%).
• A total of 52% of restaurants are experiencing year-over-year sales declines in a range of -20% to more than -70% and this is slightly better than previous weeks.
• Also, 14% of restaurants are experiencing positive sales, especially in the pizza and fast casual restaurant sectors.
• Over half (61%) of restaurants are selling to-go cocktails. 

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