Restaurant Reservations

Reservations showed a slight increase this week in Georgia—climbing 1.24% over last week’s average, from being down 58.9% to 57.7%. The US average stayed stable this week, around 61% over last year.

Casual Dining, fast Food, and Bars

Casual Dining in the southeast saw a slight 1.3% increase this week, from being down 64.2% to 65.5%. Bars on the other hand, stayed relatively consistent since last week, only increasing the weekly average by .70%. While both these types of establishments did receive an increase in foot traffic this week, the weekly increase is much smaller than what restaurants were experiencing three weeks ago.

Fast food has remained unaffected by the pandemic.

Restaurant Reclosures By State

Restaurants and bars are being re-closed after a spike in COVID-19 cases. This is a comprehensive list of states that have re-closed or restricted their restaurants as of July 13^th. To see details about how the states are re-restricting their restaurants, click this link to see the full article by Elazar Sontag.

• Idaho
• Florida
• Arizona
• Texas
• Colorado
• Michigan
• Pennsylvania
• Tennessee
• Nevada
• California
• Louisiana
• Maryland <- new this week
• Illinois <- new this week

In the news

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Signs a Citywide Mask Mandate

Beth McKibben 

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance bottoms signed an executive order Wednesday evening requiring masks to be worn inside commercial businesses (like restaurants and grocery stores,) other buildings and spaces open to the public within the city limits, and outdoors when social distancing cannot be maintained. However, the order does not detail how the mandate will be enforced or if violators face fines.

The Governor’s Refusal to Relinquish Control to Local Officials Hurts Georgia’s Restaurants

Beth McKibben 

Then, on Thursday evening, Kemp and his administration filed a lawsuit which seeks to challenge Atlanta’s mask mandate as well as the rollback of the city’s reopening. Both were enacted by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over the last two weeks.