On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) announced a global health emergency because of a new strain of coronavirus originating in Wuhan, China (the
“COVID-19
outbreak”) and the risks to the international community as the virus spreads globally beyond its point of origin. In March 2020, the WHO classified the
COVID-19
outbreak as a pandemic, based on the rapid increase in exposure globally. The pandemic has significantly impacted economic conditions in the United States, where all of our corporate restaurants are located. The Company first began to experience impacts from
COVID-19
around the middle of March 2020, as federal, state and local governments began to react to the public health crisis by encouraging or requiring social distancing, instituting
orders, and requiring, in varying degrees, restaurant
dine-in
limitations, capacity limitations or other restrictions that largely limited restaurants to
take-out,
drive-thru and delivery sales. As a result of the required changes to consumer behavior to largely
off-premises
dining, as well as promotional activities associated with delivery, the Company experienced some recovery in sales at the end of the second quarter of 2020. The Company’s most significant declines in sales were in late March 2020 through the third week in April 2020. The Company continued to experience steady recovery in the business during the period ended September 30, 2021. However, it is possible that further outbreaks could limit our recovery. The Company continues to monitor the spread of new variants, including the pandemic’s recent emergence of the Delta variant, which appears to be the most transmissible variant to date and resulted in an increase in cases in the United States and globally. Despite a recent decline in cases, hospitalizations and deaths in large portions of the United States, mask mandates, social-distancing, travel restrictions and
orders could be reinstated. The impact of the Delta variant cannot be predicted at this time, and could depend on numerous factors, including vaccination rates among the population, the effectiveness of
COVID-19
vaccines against the Delta variant and the response by governmental bodies and regulators. An extended period of economic disruption could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, access to sources of liquidity and overall financial condition.