It was an occasion fitting for a Friday the 13th. Like so many other parents across the country, on that March date we received word our daughters’ school was shifting to remote learning for the next two weeks to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Spring break was still close to a month off. Certainly, students would be back in class by then, right? Well, you know the answer to that.
This was one of the first lessons of COVID-19. Pandemics don’t go away quickly or quietly. Many people, me included, thought hunkering down for a few weeks’ worth of family dinners and movie nights would help flatten the curve and before long it would be business as usual. Seven months later, though, clouds of uncertainty continue to hang over the foodservice industry.
New York City, for example, is scheduled to finally reopen for on-premises dining. Among the first major municipalities to darken its dining rooms, New York City will be the last big city to allow indoor dining. Here’s hoping there’s no post-Labor Day surge in positive cases to take a bite out of the Big Apple’s plans. When New York does reopen its dining rooms, it will be at 25% of capacity, a sharp contrast to some other cities and states that reopened dining rooms with far fewer restrictions.
This leads to the second lesson learned from COVID-19: All economies are local. Never has one event affected the entire country all at once yet each state and municipality continue to plot their individual comebacks.
Traditionally, many foodservice operators and members of the supply chain benchmark their performances against that of the industry at large. Given the uneven and regional nature of the economic recovery, though, that might not be the best approach for right now. Instead, members of the foodservice industry should focus on how businesses in their respective areas are faring and look for ways to work together to stimulate growth amongst their customer bases. In times like these, one can really benefit from the power of the pack.
Another lesson COVID-19 has taught all of us is that challenging situations don’t often render current industry trends moot. Before the pandemic, off-premises dining was growing at a very fast pace, yet some operators were reluctant to participate in this trend. When the closure of dining rooms across the country left takeout and delivery as the only game, operators had little choice but to get on board. Now as they plot their comebacks, many operators realize the importance of a robust off-premises offering as consumers’ appetites for this style of service show no signs of waning even when a vaccine arrives. A second trend gaining steam due to the pandemic is the continued mashup between retail and foodservice. This combination offers consumers convenience that could make individual operators more appealing than their competitors.
One last lesson COVID-19 has taught us all is that technology can play an important role in limiting business interruption by providing a vital way to link companies to their employees and business partners. While video conferences will likely play a more prominent role in managing foodservice design and other projects moving forward, they will never entirely eliminate the need for face-to-face interaction. Because, after all, foodservice is a hospitality-driven business at its core.
