Mandatory Restaurant Closings, Unintended Recipe for Disaster - Guest MINDSETTER™ Burke

Mandatory Restaurant Closings, Unintended Recipe for Disaster - Guest MINDSETTER™ Burke

Every meal not served by a restaurant will have to come from a supermarket. That is a simple fact that should be obvious to public officials blithely ordering restaurant closings.

There are over 1 million restaurant kitchens in America feeding millions of Americans every day around the clock.

Closing them in response to the Covid Crisis is not the answer to feeding America. Conversely, restaurant kitchen closures will cause massive food insecurity and shortages.

People are already shocked by empty shelves in supermarkets. Even the President had to address the nation to stem concerns about the lack of food caused by panic hoarding in supermarkets.

The shut down of restaurants that feed millions of Americans every day will drive people to already overtaxed supermarkets to get their food.  The food to replace millions of restaurant meals has to come from somewhere. At the moment the only alternative is supermarkets and they are struggling to keep
up.

The food served in restaurants comes through an entirely different supply and distribution network that cannot be easily switched over to fill supermarket shelves.  A massive disruption with disastrous unintended consequences is underway.

Every place that closes their restaurants will experience increased shortages of needed food. The restaurant food chain delivers massive quantities of food every day.  It took years to build and it cannot be replaced.  Supply chain management and logistics do not easily conform to the whims of uninformed politicians.

The disease diners avoid in a restaurant may be found in the crowded aisles of more congested supermarkets.  

The best answer for government is to help restaurants transition to take out, delivery and dining in safe settings where social distancing and high sanitary standards prevail.

No industry knows more or has more professionals trained to properly handle food safely.  Over 15 million restaurant employees already know how to keep Americans safe while dining. They should be called to the front lines to battle this disease and its consequences not sent home.

Government should be calling upon restaurants to pick up the pace to help fill the supermarket food gap. 

Do not fall into the trap of thinking closing restaurants is a smart idea - it is not.  We are about to learn restarting complex distribution networks will not be easy once they are stopped.

There is no switch that can be flipped to reopen restaurants, restock warehouses and get the trucks rolling delivering billions of pounds of food to all corners of our hungry nation.

So send a message to our public officials - check please before you order something you will not like.

Robert Burke owns the French bistro Pot au Feu in Providence, RI.