CHICAGO  (NewsNation Now) — As we move into the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurant operators are continuing to pivot their operations and find more creative ways to reach their customers.

Not that anyone is expecting that to be easy. According to a new report from the American Restaurants Association, more than half of the restaurant operation owners expect it will be a year or more before conditions return to normal as thousands of restaurants have closed down, with some closures being permanent. 

But this latest news is not all goom and doom, according to one business reporter. 

“I do believe (what) is happening right now across many different industries is transformation,” said business reporter Shibani Joshi, who joined “The Donlon Report” on Tuesday. 

“The restaurant industry has shown that it has been able to adapt from going from indoor outdoor and then limited capacity, and then starting to put more of its business into delivery services as well,” she said. “This is going to be yet another prompt for the industry to continue adapting and being flexible and emerging a new business model.” 

The report said food, labor and occupancy costs are expected to remain elevated and will continue to hamper the restaurant industry’s attempt to make a big comeback this year. The other challenges include finding and keeping employees, supply chain issues, inflation and a smaller consumer base. However Dallas, Texas restaurateur Taco Borga remains optimistic. 

“It’s important to understand that the restaurant business has and will continue to change into something that no one is certain where and what is going to end up with. But one thing is certain … we have to adapt.” 

As for the good news, the group estimated in its “State of the Restaurant Industry Report” on Tuesday that the food service industry is forecast to reach $898 billion in sales in 2022. The workforce is also expected to grow by 400,000 jobs. Some restaurants are even leaning on technology as a way to mitigate staffing issues. Borga said he has hired robots to help out with his restaurants. 

“Their job is to take tasks from the humans, which means anything that makes our servers less efficient and less effective, the robots are taking over,” he said.

He said this new level of technology has led to great opportunities to redefine the industry and his business. 

“We’re going to be offering microchips for people who want to work an hour or two hours during our peak times … and in that way tap into a whole new group of people who do not want to have a schedule, do not want to have a commitment and do not want to have to be controlled by anyone.”