The coronavirus pandemic delivered a brutal hit to the U.S. economy, but few industries took quite as bad a beating as restaurants. A report from the Washington Post, published June 21, 2022, estimated that around 78,000 more restaurants closed in 2020 than a typical non-pandemic year — just under 12 percent of the 660,000 restaurants operating before the pandemic.
While that number came in below many of the dire predictions made by industry groups like the National Restaurant Association, it still represents a decimation of the industry. ...