The novel coronavirus pandemic has impacted nearly every aspect of society in the past few weeks, and the food world — restaurants, bars, nightclubs, catering companies, delivery services, and all the workers who power them — has felt the impact acutely. As governments take drastic measures to enforce social distancing, restaurants are changing their menus and sanitizing habits, reducing capacities or closing entirely, or shifting to pickup and delivery (including “no-contact” options). The dining scenes in the biggest cities in America have been stopped in their tracks.
U.S. states — including Washington, Maryland, Massachusetts, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio — have ordered all bars and restaurants to temporarily shut their doors for dine-in service.
And it’s all still developing, with changes coming by the hour, across every U.S. state and around the world. Eater’s taking a wide view at the national and international impacts, as well as tracking up-to-the-minute changes on the ground in over 20 cities across North America and the UK.