Foodservice faces slow recovery 

Minnesota’s leisure and hospitality sector is coming back from pre-pandemic lows, but the restaurant trade is far from all the way back.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Minnesota’s leisure and hospitality employment in July was 237,200, an increase of 3.3% from June and up 22% a year ago. 
Still, the July employment figure is off 14% from the January 2020 tally of 277,000.

According to the trade group Hospitality Minnesota, one in 10 Minnesota jobs are in hospitality and the industry collects and remits 18% of the state’s sales tax.

In 2018, the National Restaurant Association estimated there were 10,681 eating and drinking place locations in Minnesota, accounting for 275,900 jobs in the state and 9% of employment. Foodservice sales accounted for $10.7 billion, according to the group.

In May, nearly two-thirds of restaurant operators (65%) surveyed by Hospitality Minnesota said their financial health was now positive/stable or growing, up 15 points from March. More than half (52%) of operators are now no longer concerned about solvency, up 10 points from March, according to the group.

However, the results of the study point to significant concerns about the impact of workforce shortage on the pace of economic recovery, with 83% describing labor as “tight” (up 22 points since March), according to the group. 

In the foodservice sector, 77% of operators described labor availability as “very tight” in May, up from 42% in March.

The National Restaurant Association said total U.S. restaurant sales continued to trend higher in July.

Eating and drinking places registered total sales of $72.2 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis in July, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That figure was up 1.7% from June’s sales volume of $71 billion and represented the sixth strong increase in the past seven months. As a result, eating and drinking place sales in July stood at $6 billion – or 9.1% – above the February 2020 pre-pandemic sales volume of $66.2 billion, according to the group.

COVID-19 restrictions

With news in mid-August of COVID-19 variants increasing nationwide, mask requirements vary by location.

According to the National Restaurant Association’s tracker of mask mandates, COVID-19 restrictions in Minnesota as of Aug. 23 were, statewide: “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Minnesota Department of Health recommend that people, both fully vaccinated and unvaccinated, continue to wear a well-fitted mask in some settings or situations. Other federal, state, or local laws may require masks, and businesses may set their own requirements.”