DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – Restaurants across central Illinois are fighting to survive the implications of the COVID-19 shut down.

“We’re barely making it man,” Head West Subs General Manager Brian Becker said.

A new report from the Illinois Restaurant Association finds thousands of restaurants could close before things return to normal.

"We are down 60-percent,” Becker said. “It was 80, so we are rebounding a little bit."

Becker said his restaurant was closed for a bit, but did reopen three weeks ago, and while they are getting some business, things are s till a struggle, and he is not alone.

"This is one of the hardest times we have experienced,” Waterfront Café’s owner Gary Spates said. “We have been here two years July the 4th."

Spates estimates he has seen a 65-percent reduction in revenue. The Illinois Restaurant Association says statewide, restaurants are seeing an average loss of about 80-percents.

"Restaurants are the sole of every neighborhood in Illinois and, really, they are at the sole of every neighborhood in the country,” the associations CEO and President Sam Toia said.

The association said it believes 20-percent of the 25,000 restaurants (5,000) in the state will not be able to re-open following the COVID crisis.

According to Toia, at the start of 2020, the state’s hospitality industry had 594,000 employees, making it the state’s largest private sector employer in the state. As of the start of May, 321,000 of those employees are currently on unemployment or furloughed, and about 50-percent of the state’s restaurants are closed.

Toia said it is likely 20-percent of the state’s restaurants will not re-open when the stay-at-home order is lifted, which could mean 120,000 Illinoisans who once worked in restaurants would be left without a job.

"Reopening is important,” Toia, said. “Health & Safety. We want to hear what the scientist has to say about health and safety. Let us ease into reopening. It is not going to be the flip of a switch; it is going to be more like a dimmer switch."

The restaurant association says it is working with the government to try and get a restaurant recovery bill drafted. Toia said it would be like what was used to help banks and airlines.

Under the Governor’s five-phase plan, restaurants are not allowed to start operating until phase four. It is expected the state will move into phase three next week.