Originally Posted by
gaobest
I’m now of the opinion that casual / fast food places are using the pandemic to end/cease indoor dining in order to save money on staffing and cleaning. It’s like how airlines reduced F food service during the pandemic - I believe in this analogy and think that most of us here can empathize. We are lucky that our DQ in Capitola still has counter to-go service to offset the long drive-through queues! We love our blizzards :-)
While I haven't returned to my pre-pandemic restaurant dining frequency, I have noticed that some establishments seem to have closed off sections and greatly reduced the number of servers. Of course, this could have been due to our State's covid restrictions, but let's see if they'll return to, assuming the demand calls for it, full capacity. At this point, I'm unsure if restaurant demand will ever return fully to their pre-lockdown levels. Love DQ too, but none that I know of around me; so, I just always drop by the one in the Excalibur's basement when I'm in Vegas.
Vegas appears to be at full staffing and having very little issues attracting talent/help, at least on the strip hotel/casino/restaurants. Of course, it could be because of this town's deeply ingrained tipping culture where they'll likely earn considerably more than unemployment even the heightened benefits. Because of the pandemic, I suspect everyone has been tipping a little extra to help during these challenging times, and likely even more so in Vegas. Even in CA when the extra unemployment benefits end in Sept (?), I expect we'll see a return to normal service staffing levels, assuming demand hasn't been permanently reduced.