Play Video

COVID-19: The Hospitality Industry's Uncertain Future

Restaurants are among the hardest hit businesses with an estimated $225 billion loss and millions of jobs at risk

An owner of two restaurants with 100 employees details the difficult business decisions he faced when sit-down dining was shut down

Restaurants are taking a hard hit due to COVID-19. The National Restaurant Association estimates the industry will lose $225 billion this year, while 5 to 7 million workers could end up unemployed. Food services and drinking establishments make up an increasing proportion of GDP, from 1.76 percent in 1997 to 2.23 percent in 2018.

Last year, eight percent of the U.S. workforce worked in food services, primarily restaurants and bars. That accounts for more than 12 million people.

With orders in place that only allow takeout or delivery, restaurants in many cities are struggling to deal with the new normal. Ken Kaufman is the owner of two restaurants in Culver City, California – Rush Street and City Tavern. Between the two establishments, he has over 100 employees.

Kaufman says his primary concern is how his employees will fare during this uncertain time. When the directive was issued shutting down sit-down dining, Kaufman was faced with tough decisions that would affect his workforce. “Beyond the concern about their economics is the concern about having to work together in an environment that may be a danger. So I had no desire to put my staff in harm’s way either,” says Kaufman.

He opted to close both restaurants. To help his workforce, Kaufman made sure that his employees understand how to file for unemployment benefits. Kaufman notes that Culver City has created a recovery committee to address the issues facing local business.

He says, “I’m very much a part of that and talking to the Council people. I love Culver City. So for me, let’s withstand a little bit of pain for the actual business. But let’s all group together, share the pain, and we’ll be okay. I want to be optimistic and I want to care for my employees most of all.”

Additional Videos is our signature digital series that shines the spotlight on the most innovative initiatives helping to train and re-skill Americans for the most in-demand jobs now and in the future.

Additional Videos

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.