Critical Tips to Help Restaurateurs Thrive

Had you only looked at the foot traffic data for the first two months of 2020, you might have been tempted to declare—and not without good reason—that it was shaping up to be a banner year for brick-and-mortar establishments.In the last week of February, national in-store traffic was up 3.5 percent over the previous year’s figures. The country had experienced 23 consecutive quarters of GDP growth, one of the longest such periods in modern history. Earlier in the month, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite index had soared to all-time highs. The economy was booming.

And then, beginning in early March, the bottom fell out. As the novel coronavirus outbreak swept across the country and around the world—and as state and local governments grappled with how to control it—foot traffic dropped precipitously across the board. By the end of the month, nationwide retail walk-ins were at a paltry 27.1 percent of the previous year’s figures. The country hit its foot traffic low point in…