Created with Sketch. It’s been a year since the coronavirus pandemic upended the U.S. restaurant industry, necessitating innovations in takeout, carry-out cocktails, expanding outdoor dining and contactless technology. Trends that weren’t supposed to take hold for years have occurred at an accelerated rate. “Looking at 2020, obviously it was the worst year in history for the United States restaurant industry,” said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the research and knowledge group for the National Restaurant Association. “In all the industries in America, the restaurant industry was the most impacted in terms of employment and sales decline.” Riehle said 2020 ended with an estimated $240 billion less sales than 2019 — a 19.2% decrease — and that 2 million restaurant workers remain out of work, even though the country is staring to reopen.