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"P
eople who are saying restaurants are dead
and everyone is going to cook at home are
giving consumers way too much credit."
I second that quote from a member of our SFA
Trendspotter Panel, Jonathan Deutsch of Drexel
University, speaking at our recent webinar, Trends
from Specialty Food LIVE!, our digital marketplace
event held in January.
Pre-COVID, aka the Before Time, dining out
socially was a way of life for many—from grabbing
quick fast-casual lunches to dinners out a few times
a week. And after a year of hunkering down at
home, many are eager to emerge from their bubbles,
ready to enjoy.
As vaccine rollouts increase and indoor
dining restrictions become more lenient, recovery
predictions are rolling in. A recent story in
Bloomberg, Bars and Restaurants Are About to
Go on an Epic Post-COVID Hiring Spree, quoted
foodservice operators across the U.S. heartened by
a noticeable uptick in business as weather warmed
up, and the pandemic showed signs of receding.
According to Labor Department data, bars and
restaurants added almost 300,000 jobs across the
country in February, the first substantial increase
in four months.
High hopes aside, the pace of foodservice's
return is still dependent on a number of variables
influencing consumers' comfort levels. In this
issue, we look at Foodservice in Crisis: How the
Channel Can Recover, beginning on p. 15. There is
no question that foodservice has been devastated.
More than 110,000 restaurants—about 17 percent
of all locations—are gone, according to National
Restaurant Association data. Some segments,
especially small immigrant-owned mom-and-pop
restaurants, were severely hit, as you can read
about on p. 22. Hope to prevent more closings has
come in the form of the recently passed Restaurant
Revitalization Fund, part of President Biden's
American Rescue Plan. But clearly, recovery is
going to take years for the channel to return to pre-
COVID sales.
While in survival mode this past year, some of
the new avenues of business operators turned to are
expected to continue as key to recovery, including:
• Ghost kitchens. Consumers have gotten
used to and comfortable with restaurant-
quality food at home and it will remain part
of their dining habits even as they begin to
branch outside more. With ghost or dark
kitchens, restaurants can operate for delivery
without incurring high overhead costs.
• Off-premise dining. Delivery was rising
even before the pandemic and is certainly
part of the norm now. Many operators
plan to make this a priority and ongoing
investment.
• Specialty retail products. Several
restaurants and food trucks began packaging
their proprietary sauces and condiments,
making them available for sale via
e-commerce or in brick-and-mortar retail.
You can read more about the trends and changes
that are going to help pave foodservice's way back
in this issue. Like many things post-COVID, all
signs point to a comeback shaped by a new normal.
SPRING
editor's letter
Denise Purcell
Editor, SFA Specialty Food
dpurcell@specialtyfood.com
FOODSERVICE'S ROAD TO RECOVERY
