The recent decade has witnessed a new wave of development in the place-based accessibility theory, revolving around the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method. The 2SFCA method, initially serving to evaluate the spatial inequity of health care services, has been further applied to other urban planning and facility access issues. Among these applications, different distance decay functions have been incorporated in the thread of model development, but their applicability and limitations have not been thoroughly examined. To this end, the paper has employed a place-based accessibility framework to compare the performance of twenty-four 2SFCA models in a comprehensive manner. Two important conclusions are drawn from this analysis: on a small analysis scale (e.g., community level), the catchment size is the most critical model component; on a large analysis scale (e.g., statewide), the distance decay function is of elevated importance. In sum, this comparative analysis provides the theoretical support necessary to the choice of the catchment size and the distance decay function in the 2SFCA method. Justification of model parameters through empirical evidence (e.g., field surveys about local travel activities) and model validation through sensitivity analysis are needed in future 2SFCA applications for various urban planning, service delivery, and spatial equity scenarios.

Purpose: This paper aims to evaluate the early effects of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and accompanying stay-at-home orders on restaurant demand in US counties.Design/methodology/approach: The following two sets of daily restaurant demand data were collected for each US county: foot traffic data and card transaction data. A two-way fixed-effects panel data model was used to estimate daily restaurant demand from February 1 to April 30, 2020.Findings: Results show that a 1% increase in daily new COVID-19 cases led to a 0.0556% decrease in daily restaurant demand, while stay-at-home orders were collectively associated with a 3.25% drop in demand. The extent of these declines varied across counties; ethnicity, political ideology, eat-in habits and restaurant diversity were found to moderate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders.Practical implications: These results characterize the regional restaurant industry’s resilience to COVID-19 and identify particularly vulnerable areas that may require pubic policies and managerial strategies for intervention.Originality/value: This study represents a pioneering attempt to investigate the economic impact of COVID-19 on restaurant businesses.