New York eateries yet to emerge from pandemic woes

New York City's restaurant industry continues to face "widespread and overwhelming hardship" in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and will have an uphill battle to fully recover, according to research by the National Restaurant Association and New York State Restaurant Association.

Restaurants are one of the city's most important industries, worth over $18.5 billion. But a recent survey by NYSRA found that 41 percent of New York operators said business conditions for their restaurants are worse now than they were three months ago.

Only 20 percent of the 267 restaurant operators polled between July 14 and Aug 5 reported that business conditions had improved during the last three months.