Tanzina Vega: The restaurant industry is one of the largest in the United States. In 2018, the food services sector employed about 12 million workers, then, came the shutdown. So far, more than 2.5 million restaurant jobs have been lost since the pandemic began. One way some have tried to survive is by setting up outdoor dining and expanding delivery options, but even those measures have left many brick and mortar restaurants unable to pay for rent and supplies. As the cold weather looms in some parts of the country, many are at risk for shutting down completely. Rachel Fine is the owner of Gigglewaters, restaurant and movie theater, in Safety Harbor, Florida. We've checked in with her a few times over the pandemic. Here's how she's adapting.

Rachel Fine: We launched a virtual food truck. What I mean by this is we would go on-site to any office, any hospital, any apartment complex with more than 25 people, and we'd set up shop and we would sell our food there. If you didn't want to come out to eat, we'll bring the food to you because I've got products and I need to move it. We brought the restaurant experience to anyone who would have us, and there was no delivery charges on that or anything. We just wanted to stay busy.

Tanzina Vega: You've been talking to us about this.

Gertz: This is Gertz in Brookline, Massachusetts. I managed a restaurant, which closed in March. I wasn't officially let go until June. I've been looking for work ever since. Once the federal unemployment supplement went away, that coincided with the restaurant reopening without me. I understand that I was an expensive employee. That one-two punch has been really tough, tougher on me than I even realized. Figuring out what's next.

Gina: Hi, my name is Gina. My fiancé works in what you would consider a club venue, and they are still not open. He is longer receiving the extra $600. He's really harmed in two different ways because, as far as he's told, he's not going back until there is a cure or something better.

Tanzina: Lots of experiences there. Thanks for sharing your thoughts as always with us at 877-8-MY-TAKE. Amelia Lucas is a CNBC reporter covering restaurants and she joins me now. Amelia, welcome to the show.

Amelia Lucas: Hi, thanks for having me.

Tanzina: Amelia, what's the state of the restaurant industry so many months into the economic downturn? Do we know how many have closed?

Amelia: It's not entirely clear at this point, but Yelp data shows, as of mid-July, there have been almost 16,000 permanent restaurant closures on their platform.

Tanzina: One of the biggest reasons for closures is what? Is it the fact that restaurants are unable to make up what they're losing as a result of not being able to have indoor dining?

Amelia: Yes. I would say that's probably the biggest factor right now. Landlords, maybe not being able to work with them on finding a solution that works for both parties is also tough, not knowing when you can finally pay your full rent, and a lot of restaurant owners are also deciding that they don't want to stack on more debt and have to deal with that down the line.

Tanzina: Do we know whether the closures are affecting smaller restaurants or larger chain restaurants? I know that larger chain, casual dining restaurants had been already in trouble before the pandemic. Who's being most affected here?

Amelia: I think across the line, we're seeing closures everywhere. McDonald's, Dunkin Donuts, they're all announcing closures, but definitely independent restaurants have been the hardest hit by this. They don't have as much access to capital, and it's been tougher for them to figure out their next steps and to pivot to take out, delivery, outdoor dining.

Tanzina: We talk about places like Dunkin Donuts and McDonald's, those are largely franchise-owned, is that a reflection of the fact that the franchise owners are unable to keep up? Wouldn't you expect that a corporation like McDonald's would maybe try to help its franchisees out in something like this?

Amelia: All the big fast-food companies like McDonald's, Dunkin, they have been working with their franchisees and giving them some help out there. Some of it is also-- These might have been locations that were struggling before, and then, the pandemic was the last straw for it.

Tanzina: Amelia, here in New York and I'm sure in other places around the country, what we're seeing are a lot of restaurants, everyone from coffee shops, to diners, to more traditional restaurants setting up outdoor dining venues as a way to try and stay afloat this summer. Some of them have also expanded to online delivery platforms, as you mentioned, but that just seems-- The fall is coming and outdoor dining just isn't feasible in the colder months of the year. How much of an effect-- How many of these restaurants that are really holding on to outdoor dining do we expect we'll just not be able to make it to the end of the year?

Amelia: Probably a pretty big amount I would say. There aren't that many solid estimates out there, but definitely this is something that restaurant owners and the industry are really worried about. You can't do that much with heaters outside, and it seems like in New York City, for example, Mayor de Blasio might just decide to stop outdoor dining when the cold weather starts hitting. It's definitely a bit concerned.

Tanzina: To that end, what are some of the-- Folks who aren't familiar with how the restaurant industry works, the margins are pretty thin aren't they?

Amelia: Yes, the margins are very thin, and when you add in something like a delivery service, which not only do we, as a customer, have to pay a fee for our food, but restaurants also have to pay a fee to that delivery service a certain percentage of the sale for going through that platform. That reduces the margins even more.

Tanzina: We heard one of our callers at the top say that they had stopped receiving the $600 in unemployment benefits. I'm sure many folks are in the same position, but we also had something called the Paycheck Protection Program, which was an effort by Congress to save struggling businesses. Where does that stand? What has it done for the restaurant industry?

Amelia: The Paycheck Protection Program has definitely helped a lot of restaurants at this point. Some restaurant owners are definitely hoping that there could be a second round of Paycheck Protection Program money coming, particularly, with the outdoor dining issue and just the general slowdown expected for the fall and winter. There was a lot of confusion initially with the funding and loan forgiveness and who would qualify. It seems like those problems were fixed later on, but definitely a lot of restaurant owners are still worried about having that extra debt on their balance sheet from taking those loans.

Tanzina: Now, of course, there are also restaurants that are open for indoor dining depending on, at least, here in New York, it really depends on which stage of reopening the region that you're in is in. We know out on Long Island, for example, that some places are open for indoor dining, but even there are restrictions, aren't there, Amelia? People can't just open restaurants and have full capacity, right?

Amelia: Right. A lot of state input 25% capacity, 50% capacity, which again, you're not going to be making as much money in order to pay your full rent. Then, you also have additional social distancing rules. Maybe you could have 50% capacity, but because of those social distancing rules and keeping people six feet apart, you don't want to have more than 30% capacity.

Tanzina: Even if a restaurant conceivably is allowing indoor dining, that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll going to be able to survive long-term.

Amelia: Right. There's still a lot of problems that come with indoor dining. Obviously, with every restaurant, there's a possibility of an outbreak that could cause them to close their doors for a week to clean and make sure that doesn't happen again.

Tanzina: There was a recent survey from Ernst & Young that found that 53%, that's 53%, of consumers would be uncomfortable eating inside a restaurant. We just talked about the social distancing limitations for indoor dining, but let's say, restrictions begin to lift across the board and we have a much safer environment, it feels customers aren't going to want to return right away.

Amelia: There will always be customers who will be willing to go inside those restaurants and eat no matter what, but it seems like the majority of people are still unsure, particularly, in those regions like New York City, which was really hard hit by the pandemic.

Tanzina: You mentioned New York City, that's where we're sitting, but of course, this is a very big country, restaurants across the country are being affected in different ways, is there a geographic divide, Amelia, in how different restaurants are faring? Are restaurants, perhaps, in warmer climates able to stick it out a little longer than maybe those of us here up North?

Amelia: I wouldn't say that we've seen that big of a geographic divide in terms of success so far, but definitely, in late May, early June, as some states, particularly in the South, were beginning to open indoor dining again, we definitely saw a faster recovery to those sales. It seems like those are the places that are more likely to have people be comfortable sitting indoors and eating there.

Tanzina: Amelia, what are the limitations of delivery? Is this something that-- Many New Yorkers, all of us have a stack of menus or whip out our Seamless and just order with abandon? As more restaurants try to make up the gap with [inaudible 00:10:17], really a feasible option, is that really going to help them close the gap?

Amelia: It's hard to say. There's a lot of competition on platforms like Seamless because there's so many different places you can order from. If you've tackled how do you get your menu to travel safely and make sure that the food is as good as if you were eating inside the restaurant, that definitely is one way that restaurants can help close that gap. New York City and some other cities across the US have input these caps on the fees that the platform can charge, so that also is really helpful to those restaurants in making sure that those transactions are much more profitable for them.

Tanzina: Are we seeing any long-term trends, based on your reporting, in terms of how restaurants are trying to adapt or things that we may have gotten used to that are never going to come back? Will we see packed bars ever again in the near future, or are there more restaurants that are going to try and increase their presence on online platforms? What trends are you seeing in the near future?

Amelia: The digital trend is definitely not going away. It's really accelerated during the pandemic. It might slow down compared to where it is now, but it's never going to go back to where it was before. Another thing that has completely disappeared or will completely disappear is going to be the buffet. Nobody's going to want to eat that one of those anymore. So many of them are close now, and a lot of restaurants were struggling with them before the pandemic and making them profitable.

Tanzina: Watch out for online apps to see a surge.

Amelia: Yes, definitely.

Tanzina: We're going to have to leave it there. Amelia Lucas is a CNBC reporter covering the restaurant industry. Amelia, thanks so much for joining us.

Amelia: Thank you.

Jennifer: My name is Jennifer. We are in Kona on Hawaii Island. We own Shave Ice, ice cream shops. We've been closed since late March. Every time we think we're going to reopen, there's a setback in the pandemic, a new stay at home order, the travel quarantine is extended, airlines aren't flying directly until Kauai Island anymore. We have closed one location permanently now and hope that we have enough retirement savings to get us through to the end of the year or farther for the other location. Even when we do open, we'll be losing thousands of dollars every month until the travel industry recovers. We certainly won't be paying ourselves.

Announcer: This is The Takeaway. Call us at 877-8-MY-TAKE to comment on any story or give us your thoughts on any topic. Also, we're on Facebook and Twitter @TheTakeaway, let us know what you think, and thanks for listening.

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