Many Restaurants Might 'Be Gone Forever,' Says Corby Kummer

Food writer Corby Kummer spoke with Boston Public Radio, *on Wednesday, about the way the food industry will be different, post-coronavirus crisis.

"What we're looking at is maybe as few as 30 percent of independent restaurants coming back, it all depends on how long the current closings last," he said. "So one to two months closed has 70 percent coming back, than at 3 months it's 50 percent, and then if it's 6 months it's 30 percent - these are all just wild projections, but it's bad."

Small independent restaurants could also fail during slow re-openings, since regulations will likely not allow full capacity, he said. "These restaurants might be gone forever, and everyday along with the obits, we're seeing constant obits of restaurants that won't be coming back."

*Kummer is a *senior editor at The Atlantic*, an award-winning food writer, and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy.