Work in the restaurant industry is a grind on a good day. Long hours, revolving staff, never-ending customer expectations, seasonality, supply chain issues, and intense competition are just a few of the daily headaches. As adept as restaurants have become at bracing for frequent storms, COVID-19 represents nothing short of their Hurricane Katrina. State and local orders issued in response to the global pandemic forced business closures nationwide—a paralyzing event from which some companies will never recover.
Many resilient restaurants have adapted quickly to new legal constraints by partnering with food delivery services to ramp up take-out and delivery options. Indeed, on-demand food delivery services like Uber Eats, Postmates, Grubhub, and DoorDash are about the only food-related business to benefit from the pandemic. In fact, with stay-at-home lifestyles becoming the potential new normal, financial forecasters are predicting a nearly $45 billion growth in that market between now and the end of 2024. [1] Restaurants that can continue to pivot to off-premise services like take-out and delivery options likely will see quicker returns to profitability.
Continue Reading Setting the Table in a Post-COVID-19 World: The Restaurant Industry Rises Up to Tackle Its Greatest Challenge Yet (and Maybe Ever)