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Governor Cooper just canât seem to win for losing these days. The North Carolina Democratic Governor is popular with ordinary citizens, but not so much within the bar and restaurant community. The industry blames him for a wide range of woes since being placed under restrictions enacted in March to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Cooper has implemented a spider web of restrictions that guide the industry on when and how they can serve customers. To some degree these mandates have not favored the private bar industry where they donât serve food to help offset lost alcohol sales and they donât fall under Department of Health and Human Services oversight - which further places them at odds with the governorâs approach to managing the pandemic.Â
Small independently owned restaurants are facing an extinction level event as we move deeper into colder months and the coronavirus spread reaches all-time highs. Without immediate financial aid, over 75% of the stateâs 19,504 eating and drinking locations are in danger of closing permanently.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March, 17% of restaurants throughout the country (or about 110,000 establishments) have closed either permanently or long-term and 10,000 restaurants have closed over the last three months alone. As for the 10,000 restaurants that have closed over the past three months, the majority had been well-established in the industry for years, and on average, had been in business for 16 years.