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2.2 Million Restaurants Worldwide Teeter on Brink of Collapse

With demand plunging and costs piling up, these business owners talk about how they’re fighting to stay afloat.

As states begin to reopen, restaurants, closed for months, are adding personal protective equipment to their monthly list of expenses. — As states begin to reopen, restaurants, closed for months, are adding personal protective equipment to their monthly list of expenses.
Photographer: Olivia Obineme/Bloomberg

By

Leslie Patton and

June 23, 2020, 11:00 AM UTC

When Chicago restaurant owner Manish Mallick does the math, the outlook isn’t pretty: Sales are 10% of what they were, while costs continue to pile up, from credit card fees and city permits to masks and thermometers.

The owner of ROOH Chicago, an Indian restaurant nominated for the city’s 2019 restaurant of the year by foodie publication Eater, gives himself a couple months at most.