In other industries, deep-pocketed companies are able to keep workers on the payroll even when there’s no money coming in. Independent restaurants don’t have that luxury. We don’t have shareholders or the ability to bank money for a rainy day when things are good.

Here’s how the economics work: 90 percent of the money that independent restaurants earn goes straight back out to pay employees, vendors and rent. This is true for mom-and-pop corner restaurants and for the fanciest places in town: Whether your server wears a flannel shirt or a fancy suit, your favorite restaurant is primarily in the business of giving a whole lot of people a paycheck.

In the past week, one of us was forced to lay off 800 workers. Another had to let 1,500 people go. A third laid off 2,000 people, including corporate office staff. Some of us are still offering takeout and delivery — and selling gift cards and swag online — but that’s barely enough to keep anyone employed, given the costs of rent and insurance for sit-down restaurants. Our economic model requires people in seats.

New York restaurant people are true Gothamites: Like so many of us, they came to the city from all over the country and the world to take part in the public life of our amazing city. They’re pros who’ve trained and prepared and worked their way up the restaurant ladder; they are artists and performers and coders and students working day jobs; they are family people who look to restaurants for a regular paycheck, solid hours and good benefits. Now they are struggling to feed their children, waiting in line to get unemployment benefits and desperately worried about paying their rent.

And that’s not even counting the hundreds of millions of workers up and down the supply chain — from farmers and packers and laundries to importers and accountants — who depend on restaurants for their living.