Before COVID-19, 60 percent of new restaurants failed within the first year of opening. The pandemic makes it even harder for new restaurants to thrive and survive.

New Iowa City restaurants like Tavern Blue need our help in order to survive through the pandemic.

The restaurant industry took a hit over the past year with 8 million employees losing their jobs or being furloughed. Along with businesses losing billions of dollars, it’s no wonder why restaurants need more customers now more than ever.

People still need to support local restaurants by either eating in or by ordering food to go to keep businesses alive.

Tavern Blue is a restaurant that opened in Coralville on Aug. 16. Activities like minigolf, table games, and pizza make it an attraction for Iowa City residents and University of Iowa students alike.

Places like Tavern Blue that have in-person entertainment would be easier to access in a pre-pandemic world. It’s unfortunate that Tavern Blue opened during a time of more restrictions, making it more difficult to bring in more customers with their in-person amenities like the mini-golf and give people the opportunity to hold private parties.

New restaurants like Tavern Blue are the ones that need customers as soon as possible in order to keep their doors open.

Until we can all return to eating in person without fear of COVID-19 where restaurants can have better chances of staying in business, they need customers.

Now, this should not take away from people enjoying other local Iowa City restaurants. Instead, it gives them another option to enjoy. While new businesses stand less of a chance than ones that came before, the older restaurants still need our patronage. New restaurants have to spend more to get recognized and don’t have a regular set of customers for business.

If restaurants start bringing in more money, they can last past the pandemic and provide better working wages for their employees.

Prices in some restaurants have risen to pay for things lost during the pandemic like employees. This can be a deterrent for some people, but two things can happen if people stop showing up.

One — the restaurant will lay off more employees, or reduce other costs associated with employees like reducing time off. For the employees, customers could ensure they earn money by tipping more, or by boycotting the restaurant until they give their employees improved wages.

Second — the restaurant will close. This will in turn get rid of all the employees and force them to look for new jobs, which has already been made harder by the pandemic. Also, the food you once enjoyed at the restaurant will no longer be available.

To reference a point earlier, new restaurants already struggle to stay in business their first year.   It’s times like these where they need our immediate patronage to stay in business.

While both older and newer restaurants need to keep customers rolling in, it is the newer ones that don’t stand a chance. People need to visit and support restaurants like Tavern Blue.

Columns reflect the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, The Daily Iowan, or other organizations in which the author may be involved.