For one, make sure you tip well By Kerry Breen | TODAY • NBCUniversal Media, LLC The coronavirus pandemic has been incredibly damaging for the restaurant industry in the United States: The National Restaurant Association estimates that at least 17% of the country's food service establishments have already shuttered, with 10,000 restaurants having closed their doors in just the past three months. Experts in the industry estimate that restaurants will continue to suffer throughout the next few months, even as vaccinations begin across the country. "Clearly, people are not going out to eat and supporting their restaurants anywhere near in the numbers that they used to," said Marshall Weston, president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Maryland. "... I think it's really important that we all make a conscious efforts to support our restaurants, as often as we can. It really takes a conscious effort to put restaurants at the top of our minds and realize how much they need us to ensure they'll be here many months from now."