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Virus fears blamed for drop in customers at foreign cuisine restaurants

Virus fears blamed for drop in customers at foreign cuisine restaurants

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Coronavirus concerns are being blamed for a drop in business at foreign cuisine restaurants, according to local and international data.

Representatives with the Indiana Association of Chinese Americans said at this point the shift in customers isn’t considered alarming. Some reports show some businesses having seen anywhere between a 30-70% drop in the last few weeks.

While Chinese-American leaders are confident in restaurants’ safety, some business owners are taking extra cleaning measures.

Health experts say when using alcohol to clean, make sure it’s at least 60%. Some restaurants are using 70% alcohol when it comes to sanitizing tables and chairs after customers leave, while paying added attention to sanitizing silverware.

Those are some of the numbers locally. However, the trends are about the same around the country.

Google Trends data said that compared to January, searches for Chinese food are down 33% and searches for Italian food are down 24%.