EAllusion wrote:As restaurant business vanishes, that puts a demand crunch on grocers and it becomes increasingly rational to preemptively panic buy. Get your giant bags of rice while you can.
The expression 'panic buying' is surely best reserved for the irrational buying of large amounts of commodities which are not, in fact, in short supply. This can, however, temporarily empty supermarket shelves (because it takes time to deliver more supplies, even though there are plenty in the warehouse), which then feeds the idiocy of even more panic buying, and so on.
Since larger restaurants generally order their supplies from specialist wholesale companies rather than from local shops, I don't think that the closure of a large restaurant will generally have much of a direct effect on the establishments from which local consumers buy. I don't know what proportion of (say) rice is ordered by restaurants compared to private consumers, but I shouldn't expect it to be very large, so that the decrease in rice prices due to the loss of restaurant demand may not be great.
If people aren’t buying their food from a local restaurant like they normally do, where are they getting it? Restaurants supply a very large % of meals for Americans. It’s one of the major draws of city life. If there is a collapse in supply of restaurant prepared food, you would expect demand to shift to grocery stores where they may face a supply shock.
EAllusion wrote:Something like half of all meals are eaten outside of the home. As restaurant business vanishes, that puts a demand crunch on grocers and it becomes increasingly rational to preemptively panic buy. Get your giant bags of rice while you can.
(Mormons, of course, may already have their 6 month supply of soup cans )
I get that, and that certainly needs to change anyway. Buying your own food and preparing it at home (which nearly everyone has the time to do now) is far more healthy and economical. There will likely be a strain on supply at first, but on the bright side grocery stores will have some booming business for a while. People are always going to have to eat and they're always going to have to buy their food. It is just a question of where they buy it. Bo and Luke Duke excluded of course.
"One of the hardest things for me to accept is the fact that Kevin Graham has blonde hair, blue eyes and an English last name. This ugly truth blows any arguments one might have for actual white supremacism out of the water. He's truly a disgrace." - Ajax
Millions of people are employed by restaurants and businesses that feed into them. I don’t think, “Pfft. Paying people for the skill of preparing and serving tasty food is dumb anyway” is an adequate reaction.
EAllusion wrote:Millions of people are employed by restaurants and businesses that feed into them. I don’t think, “Pfft. Paying people for the skill of preparing and serving tasty food is dumb anyway” is an adequate reaction.
I don't either, I'm saying let's cross that bridge when we get there. There aren't millions being unemployed by this right now and Trump's plan is to give money to just about everyone, not just waiters and cooks. His only qualification was "not people making a million dollars."
"One of the hardest things for me to accept is the fact that Kevin Graham has blonde hair, blue eyes and an English last name. This ugly truth blows any arguments one might have for actual white supremacism out of the water. He's truly a disgrace." - Ajax
Res Ipsa wrote:Every restaurant and bar in Washington State is shut down except for drive-through, take out, and delivery.
Ditto the entire Kansas City metro area (which straddles Missouri and Kansas and has 2.3 million people). And, the governor of Kansas just announced every K-12 in the entire state is closed for the rest of the school year.
Currently, the state of Kansas has 18 known cases, and Missouri has 8.
It’s relatively easy to agree that only Homo sapiens can speak about things that don’t really exist, and believe six impossible things before breakfast. You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.
EAllusion wrote:Millions of people are employed by restaurants and businesses that feed into them. I don’t think, “Pfft. Paying people for the skill of preparing and serving tasty food is dumb anyway” is an adequate reaction.
I don't either, I'm saying let's cross that bridge when we get there. There aren't millions being unemployed by this right now and Trump's plan is to give money to just about everyone, not just waiters and cooks. His only qualification was "not people making a million dollars."
I wouldn't be so sure. Things are changing really, really fast. I see about half as many cars as I usually do driving around town. Bars and restaurants are on skeleton staffs. All sporting events and concerts are gone. The airline industry is down at least 60%, including everything that feeds off of travel. Conferences are being cancelled. Hotels are empty. Cruise ships are docked. People are avoiding retail outlets.
SALT LAKE CITY — For many, Utah’s ski season ended abruptly over the weekend as the spread of COVID-19 prompted ski resorts across the state to close.
As of Tuesday, every Utah ski resort halted the majority of resort operations, at least temporarily, with scores of independently owned lodges, restaurants, rental shops and other businesses that rely on ski-tourism following suit.
Bad news for those planning a late-March ski vacation. But even worse news for the thousands of seasonal employees working in the ski industry who are now wondering how to make ends meet....
It’s relatively easy to agree that only Homo sapiens can speak about things that don’t really exist, and believe six impossible things before breakfast. You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.
EAllusion wrote:Millions of people are employed by restaurants and businesses that feed into them. I don’t think, “Pfft. Paying people for the skill of preparing and serving tasty food is dumb anyway” is an adequate reaction.
I don't either, I'm saying let's cross that bridge when we get there. There aren't millions being unemployed by this right now and Trump's plan is to give money to just about everyone, not just waiters and cooks. His only qualification was "not people making a million dollars."
People having an income while their business is shut down an issue, but there's also the rent. And if you have a program to forgive that, then you will have a banking problem. It's a thorny issue.
Wisconsin is closing down bars and restaurants excepting takeout and delivery starting today. Probably a week late, but better late than never.
A large segment of the restaurant industry is probably trying to pay off student loan. How about debt forgiveness on that.
"One of the hardest things for me to accept is the fact that Kevin Graham has blonde hair, blue eyes and an English last name. This ugly truth blows any arguments one might have for actual white supremacism out of the water. He's truly a disgrace." - Ajax
Icarus wrote:A large segment of the restaurant industry is probably trying to pay off student loan. How about debt forgiveness on that.
I think you're thinking about the employees. Yes, them, but also the owners. If their businesses don't stay solvent somehow, it's going to be a major economic and societal blow.
kewl how not one of you consider your own media driven hysteria as the root of this eerily-close-to-martial-law circumstance that is sweeping across the States. But ironically feel sympathy for the restaurant workers you doomed (see also crocodile tears)
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires...seek discipline and find your liberty I can tell if a person is judgmental just by looking at them what is chaos to the fly is normal to the spider - morticia addams If you're not upsetting idiots, you might be an idiot. - Ted Nugent
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