Restaurants across the United States are “likely” to suffer supply chain and labor problems for another year, according to a forecast for 2022.
A report from the National Restaurant Association on Tuesday found that the food service industry has been buffered by increased sales during the past year but warned that many restaurant owners will be beset by increased food and labor prices, hiring shortages, and delays or shortages in the supply chain.
“The restaurant and foodservice industry has adapted and is carrying on with absolute resilience, so we’re optimistic about the path toward recovery in the coming year,” the NRA’s interim president and CEO, Marvin Irby, said in a press release.
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“We still have work to do to ensure that those operators struggling the most can survive,” Irby said. “The Association will continue to champion the necessary government support needed at the federal and local levels to help keep these businesses — cornerstones of our communities — on a path to better days.”
The food service industry is expected to “reach $898 billion in sales” during 2022, up from $799 billion in 2021. That is an increase of $99 billion. In 2020, the food service industry brought in $659 billion.
Still, many businesses continue to struggle with price increases, with inflation rising 7% in December from a year ago, the highest jump in nearly four decades.
“Restaurants and their patrons have found themselves in a ‘new normal.’ Given emergency technology, changing consumer behavior and dining preferences, and the extraordinary challenges of the last two years, the industry is unlikely to ever completely returns to its pre-pandemic states,” said Hudson Riehle, the senior vice president of the Research and Knowledge Group for the NRA.
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The report, which surveyed 3,000 restaurant operators between November and December 2021, found that more than half of restaurant operators believe business operations will return to normal in more than a year and are making changes to the ways they operate.
While roughly 38% of adults said they would not mind if their meals were delivered to them through robotic means, according to the NRA, many restaurant owners are making technological changes to their establishments, ranging from adding online and mobile app ordering options to implementing mobile payments. Additionally, customers have latched onto things such as outdoor seating and alcohol-to-go options.
There is some movement in Congress to offer emergency relief to restaurants, bars, and other venues hit hardest by the pandemic. Democratic lawmakers renewed calls this year for the restoration of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which was intended to “provide funding to help restaurants and other eligible businesses keep their doors open” and provides restaurants “with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business.”
