So in Georgia even most fast-food chain restaurants like McDonald's, Chick-fil-A and others are closed for eat-in dining. The only service they would have to provide is fulfilling the order at the counter & staff a cashier, and mask off every other table & provide hand sanitizer. Yet nearly a month after the Georgia re-opening the franchisees are keeping the eat-in dining closed -- as they note it is not for financial reasons but to protect their employees & customers. While in North Carolina phase 2 of the re-opening is occurring on Friday and all the chain restaurants like McDonald's, Chick-fil-A and others are planning on opening for eat-in dining -- even with stricter restrictions than Georgia. Explain the difference between the two states? Well in North Carolina most restaurant business owners trust the state government's COVID statistics and re-opening plans. In Georgia the business owners do not trust the state government's re-open plan and know they have been fed fake COVID-19 statistics. This is also why North Carolina's economic recovery will likely be much better than Georgia's.
I was not referring to fast food restaurants. I said sit down restaurants. Meaning those with staff who wait on tables. Very different model.
Yet you have no explanation or follow-up on why fast-food franchisees in two different states are going in two different directions with their re-openings. The bottom line is that states that re-open too early with less than transparent data will not have the trust of businesses and customers --- which will lead to a worse economic downside for them.
The media is quoting restaurant owners who are afraid to open because of the virus? LOL, that can't be! The media is perfectly unbiased and not interested in showing any particular side of the story. You really don't get the idea of a narrative, do you? You showed an article that stated that the number of eateries representing 1% of the population of establishments remained closed. I'm sorry if there was more supporting data I missed, you're posting articles all the time, its hard to keep up. But if you have better - more exact - data, I'd love to see it. Please note generalizations and statistics you throw around randomly but do not support do not count (70%, for example). Says you, the non-restaurant owner. How can you possibly know the impact on someone who owns a place other than guesswork? Last I checked, you're not even a finance person. Again, anecdotally, just had lunch at a local pub in downtown Tampa. Was packed. Trust seems to be just fine. Weather was wonderful, and they even stopped with the plastic utensils and ketchup packs. Servers had no masks. Everyone was fine and enjoying it.
You ignore all the other data I have posted including that there has been only a 9% decrease in the number of people staying at home in Georgia since the state's reopening from their peak stay at home week. This is a sign that most people are still staying at home and don't trust the state government's re-opening. All you need to do is to pull up a Google Map of Georgia and look at all the restaurants marked with a red X for Dine-in services.
My response to your 9% decrease article. I did not ignore it at all. You may have ignored or did not see my response. As for all your other supposed data, as I said, if there is something precise you have, I'm happy to consider it. As to Googling, who knows if any of that is up to date? If a place was opened on Monday, does it get updated instantly? I've run across something like that recently in Tampa. There is a link Google has that says "is this information outdated" and you can submit updated info. I don't know how long it takes to update. The place I had breakfast at last week is still showing closed entirely, even after I submitted last week that this data was wrong. Your problem is that you believe and trust all of these articles and social media sources, when they support your doomsayer beliefs. The moment they don't, they are questioned or ignored. I challenge everything.
Which is anecdotal data, just like my Tampa posting. Surely you know all about anecdotal data. Or do you mean to suggest that family members in Georgia have gone and polled all 12,000 eateries in Atlanta and are running their own statistical site? If so, by all means, please share and enlighten us.
I just had a conversation earlier today with someone who recently drove from Massachusetts to their condo in Florida. They say the difference is night and day. Most things are open in Florida and closed in Massachusetts. Similarly I hear the same thing from my family members who live in Georgia who drove from Atlanta to St. Augustine this week. In Florida most things are open while in Georgia many things are closed. Many people are out in Florida -- while a greater number are staying home in Atlanta with the exception of parks (Piedmont, etc.) on the weekends. Florida is different than other places You cannot project your Tampa experience on what other locations are facing. -- you better look at the evidence from people who live there (anecdotal) , the media coverage, and the maps showing what is opened to get a composite picture of location.