New statistics indicate that reservations at restaurants in the U.S. are starting to improve over their coronavirus-driven lows, an indication that the food service industry and U.S. economy are beginning to show some signs of life amid the economic devastation wrought by COVID-19 societal lockdown measures.

Online reservation platform Open Table reported that seated diners at its participating restaurants nationwide on May 26 were down 40% compared to the same time last year. Still, that was a significant improvement over the 100% decline seen earlier in May and April.

The stats from Open Table suggest that the easing or lifting of shutdown restrictions in a growing number of areas across the country is enabling dine-in meals – and revenue – to start flowing again at some American eateries.

“Early signs that U.S. consumers are willing to book restaurant tables are good news for Wall Street investors, who have for weeks only been able to guess at how quick patrons might return after state restrictions ease,” reported CNBC. “If diners return in numbers and faster than expected, the sector, and the U.S. economy, may in turn see a faster return to growth.”

The partial rebound isn’t distributed evenly across the U.S. States like Alabama, Arizona, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and South Carolina have actually experienced a year-over-year increase in seated diners at restaurants in Open Table’s network, statistics show. Restaurants there have already received the green light from authorities to reopen.

Meanwhile, states with a greater number of coronavirus cases and deaths, like New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, continue to have restrictions on eating out in place that have prevented any rebound for restaurants. Open Table bookings in the Empire State and Garden State, for instance, remain down 100%.

The leisure and hospitality industry lost 7.7% million jobs, or 47% of its workforce, in April, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor.

That's 47% of all leisure and hospitality positions https://t.co/qax51n6V42

— Tom Franck (@tomwfranck) May 8, 2020

Promotional products, especially branded T-shirts, have figured into merch-driven initiatives to help the workers in the food service/hospitality industry, as Counselor has reported on here, here and here.