The calendar rolling over into a new year gives me time to reflect into the past and dive into the future.

As the summer heat descends upon us, I am reminded of travel stories some of my colleagues have mentioned about their recent summer trips abroad.

Prior to the pandemic, with few exceptions, there was plenty of labor to go around. As a result, restaurants could deploy the right labor, in the right place, at the right time, doing the right things.

Many restaurants have yet to receive their government grant money. Is the “Great Resignation” next on the labor horizon? McDonald’s will launch its loyalty program next week. Historic heatwaves in the Pacific Northwest impact restaurant operations, too. These stories and a whole lot more This Week in Foodservice.

Unfortunately, 2021 began in much in the same way 2020 ended, with continued consumer concern about the coronavirus and the tumultuous nature of American politics dominating the conversation. Given that cancelling our collective subscription to 2021 is not an option, it is time to try to cut through the chaos to get a better idea of what the year ahead might look like for the restaurant and foodservice industry. With that in mind, here are five points to ponder as we start 2021.

At the peak of the dining room shutdowns aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, it was the quick-service restaurants that fared better than their full-service peers. The former had an advantage going into COVID-19 thanks to the drive-thru service that many QSRs have offered and the segment’s longstanding commitment to off-premises dining.

While some restaurants and foodservice operators shifted to an exclusively off-premises model due to state and local closures to stop the spread of COVID-19, others chose to temporarily shutter their businesses entirely.

This is an era of market consolidation, where small companies can increase their size and value with the goal of being acquired by a larger entity — and large companies can increase sales by branching out into more categories.

Not surprisingly, transactions at U.S. chain restaurants continued to show improvement for the week ending May 10.

Refrigerated Solutions Group plans to close its New Albany, Miss., manufacturing plant where the company makes its Master-Bilt line of refrigeration products. The company will consolidate product manufacturing of both its Master-Bilt and Nor-Lake lines in its Hudson, Wis., plant by Oct. 31, 2020.

Menu drives all. A bold statement?

A large, out-of-the-blue tornado hit downtown Nashville in early March, leaving casualties and demolished buildings. It was the type of natural disaster where, if power outages were the only thing that people experienced, it seemed like a reprieve.

FOH, a company known for commercial grade serving solutions for the restaurant and hospitality industries, has launched a new division in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

In a move to spur growth, including possibly via acquisition, restaurant industry veteran Paul Damico was named CEO of Global Franchise Group.

FE&S’ Top Achievers share some specific traits that contribute to these individuals’ ability to raise the bar not just among their peers but for the entire foodservice industry.

Raised on a small family farm in central Indiana, Keith Kidwell thought he knew the trajectory his life would take after graduating from Purdue University with a degree in agricultural sales and marketing.

As roles change and projects get more and more complicated with faster-than-ever timelines, maintaining good project management skills become critical, whether you are the project manager or are working with one. 3.14DC, an offshoot of my consulting and design firm Dynamikspace, specifically handles foodservice project management for companies.

In a move aimed to spark restaurant growth both in the U.S. and internationally, Papa John’s International added a Taco Bell and Proctor & Gamble veteran to its development team.

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. They could say the same thing about the road to unnecessary, expensive service calls. The reason: When foodservice operators clean and perform light servicing of their kitchen equipment, they can sometimes make mistakes that force a service agent to undo those efforts.

Whether you’re a designer, a MAS consultant or both, maintaining creativity, and oftentimes, going beyond the status quo remains crucial for maintaining relevancy, competitiveness and success. So is looking for inspiration beyond your normal sources.

I’m in my 43rd year in the foodservice industry, and earlier this year I had the opportunity to reflect on how much equipment and supplies distribution has changed over those four-plus decades. When my father owned a dealership in New England, most operators within our geographic area bought their foodservice equipment and supplies from him. At the time, the only other option was to head off to Boston or New York.

It’s no longer the cost of labor alone that keeps foodservice operators awake at night. It’s also the fact that labor has become a scarce commodity. These factors have foodservice operators continually exploring ways to better manage this part of their business. For multiunit operators, though, the challenge grows exponentially as they try to properly manage labor across a portfolio of similar, yet not identical, locations.

It’s December, so that means many foodservice professionals are trying to wrap up the year while they simultaneously take a look ahead to see what 2020 will bring. Well, our friends at the National Restaurant Association went one better. Actually, the association went 10 better, and by that I mean it took a look at what the restaurant industry might look like by 2030.

Producing drawings is an important part of a foodservice designer’s work and computer drafting programs have certainly streamlined the process. While they can make drawings more accurate, these drafting programs cannot eliminate every potential error. For that reason, I’m a firm believer in the use of checklists as part of the quality control process to help catch potential problems.

For many years now, I’ve been telling you just how wrong I’ve been about predicting the eminent demise of printed directories.

Lori Foerster, TriMark Hockenbergs

Unlike most CEOs whose companies sell to private equity, Jerry Hyman is still around and very much the captain of the ship at TriMark USA. Now on its fourth private-equity partnership in the past 20 years, he’s become skilled at navigating those sometimes shark-infested waters, honing an approach that doesn’t just satisfy profit-hungry PE partners but that ultimately adds value to the company and, in turn, to its customers.