Hello Lender, Here’s My Plan to Survive COVID-19. Let’s Talk

At the end of 2019, the restaurant industry was booming. Then came the pandemic: Industry sales plummeted, major restaurant chains faced bankruptcy and restaurateurs did everything in their power to stay afloat by shifting to curbside pickup, adopting delivery models or expanding outdoor eating. The hardest hit have been casual dining sit-down restaurants and national chains that complied with local COVID-19 mandates to limit or ban indoor dining. 

Surviving are the fast-food chains, where more than 60 percent of their sales come through the drive through. Year-over-year revenue comparisons show quick service restaurants are above year-ago levels, while casual restaurants were still down 30-40 percent in May. Barclays expects approximately 10 percent of U.S. restaurants to close permanently, or about 65,000 locations.

It's no wonder restaurant operators have been chasing liquidity by cutting expenses internally and turning to credit markets in a bid to outlast the impacts of the…