New Orleans: On the Way To Recovery (1/3)

New Orleans: On the Way To Recovery Estimated tally of restaurants slammed by Hurricane Katrina after the killer storm hit Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida in early August, is crucial and largely upset foodservice operators there. Post-storm census: 6,089 eateries hit, halting $4.2B in annual sales Port Washington, N.Y. An estimated tally of restaurants slammed by Hurricane Katrina emerged from a research firm's database days after the killer storm hit Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, suggesting the sweeping agnitude of strife among foodservice operators there. In the nine major demographic markets where Katrina dealt destruction, 53 percent of the total 11,484 restaurants 6,089 eateries were severely affected. NPD Group, a Port Washington-based market research firm, also said its ReCount census data indicated that New Orleans accounted for nearly 56 percent of all the affected restaurants. This and other major damage to the coastal regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama made Katrina the most destructive and costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States. As a famous tourist attraction and a city with high concentration of eateries, New Orleans’ foodservice industry among other industries, suffered the heaviest losses. Among restaurants damaged or shut down were the chains of Louisville, Ky.-based Yum! Brands Inc., “the vast majority are franchised units,” though they represent “a very small percentage of our stores,” spokesman Jonathan Blum said. Another restaurant Burger King Corp. said 180 BK restaurants were closed from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle at the height of the hurricane. Despite the various help, New Orleans has watched an unprecedented disaster from Hurricane Katrina debilitated restaurants. Out of the wreckages of the city, new life is emerging in New Orleans; images of rebuilding and return have replaced those of destruction. But it’s far from business as usual in New Orleans’ restaurant scene. “I know a lot of restaurants in New Orleans, they are all ten foot under water.” said Frank Wong, “I’ve got a Chinese friend running two restaurants. After the hurricane, he just wants to open one, publicly closes the other.” Wong was thankful that his own restaurant was not much damaged, but he was truly mournful for his friends: “After the storm, I just got a few tiles down, a couple of trees and some towers come down, no electricity, and none of my fish are there in the fish tank. They all died because of lack of oxygen. One of the trees tears my roof, and falls right into my own house. The trees have been there for long time, over 100 or more years. If they fall, they will not hit you, but will certainly scare you, because they make so big a noise.” “I just feel bad about my friends and their restaurants. I have Chinese and Japanese friends running restaurants in New Orleans and their restaurants are under water and everything there are pulled away. Because there’s no electricity, they have to dump everything into the garbage can.” Hurricane will at least temporarily, put New Orleans restaurant business into stall, because people are still uncomfortable in this environment, and the future of downtown is still undecided with the possibility of the next Hurricane attack. For restaurateurs like Frank Wong, one of the problems confronting them is that it is now difficult to hire any help. “I have problems for finding employees. There are a lot of employees not being able to go back. We’ve got half a million people left New Orleans. And it might take half a year or nine months before they come back home.”