2.2 Million Restaurants Worldwide Teeter on Brink of Collapse

When Chicago restaurant owner Manish Mallick does the math, the outlook isn’t pretty: Sales are 10% of what they were, while costs continue to pile up, from credit card fees and city permits to masks and thermometers.

The owner of ROOH Chicago, an Indian restaurant nominated for the city’s 2019 restaurant of the year by foodie publication Eater, gives himself a couple months at most.

“It’s going to be tough to survive,” Mallick said. “Ultimately I need people to come and start dining in. And the more time it takes, the worse it gets for us.”

Manish Mallick in Chicago, on June 21.

Photographer: Olivia Obineme/Bloomberg

With each week, ...