The Restaurant Industry in a Post Pandemic World Olivia Check

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Feb 20, 2024

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The Restaurant Industry in a Post Pandemic World Olivia Check Social change can be defined as the way in which human interactions, relationships, behavior patterns, and cultural norms change over time. These changes ultimately transform cultural and social institutions, concepts, and rules, which will inevitably impact society for the long-haul. Change in business can often be seen as a positive effect on business. Change may force people into new roles and new ways of doing things. The change in this case is called Coronavirus. Over these recent two years Coronavirus has affected the world and has turn businesses and lives upside down. Coronavirus will have a lasting impact on many businesses such as restaurants. The pandemic wreaked havoc upon the restaurant business but thankfully has not ended it. This obstacle has only caused restaurant owners to think out of the box and come up with new creative ideas and trends to save their business. Amid the chaos of Covid-19, restaurants adapted because they had to. As 110,000 establishments closed permanently, the industry quickly learned that it must adapt to survive. The most obvious change when businesses reopened restaurants is a stressing a healthy and safe workspace. During the pandemic, increased health measures were a government- mandated necessity. Now approaching the end of the pandemic, they are an optional but critical part of preventing future risks. These preventative measures include but are not limited to, employees wearing masks, social distancing between tables, frequent hand washing, and hand sanitizer stations for guests. There will be a hyper-awareness of safety and sanitation on the part of consumers in the post-pandemic world. The key will be to actively demonstrate adaptation to new safety and sanitation protocols and simultaneously always communicate this to customers.

Owners and managers will need to ensure that staff teams feel safe returning to work, and customers feel safe frequenting an establishment. Technology is continuously changing and effecting generations of people and lives before our eyes every day. Technology affects almost every aspect of 21st century life, from transport efficiency and safety to access to food and healthcare, socialization, and productivity. The power of the internet has enabled global communities to form, and ideas and resources to be shared more easily. To accommodate new customer trends, restaurants will need to invest in modern technology. The modern restaurant technology being used today includes tableside ordering on electronic menu technologies, mobile-ordering technology, new applications, contactless payment solutions, and even self-order kiosks. These new technologies being used in the restaurants are seen as management solutions. These solutions are automating business flows, boosting profit margins, and enhancing customer experience. Thanks to the increased adoption of these new technologies, restaurants have seen a rise in the accessibility of digital payment solutions. These solutions have already had an immeasurable impact on restaurant operations, and today, over 55% of these companies say digital payments are critical to their future. Other new reservation technologies are being used to restaurants fullest ability such as OpenTable. “Reservation systems will become a key tool for restaurants to manage physical distancing within their dining rooms as dine-in restrictions are lifted across the U.S. Platforms like Resy and OpenTable are giving restaurants some relief to ease the challenges of reopening dining rooms with limited seating capacity.” (Nancy Luna, Restaurant Hospitality) Ultimately, applications like open table will become the new norm and the future of restaurant reservations to make the experience faster, more convenient, and safer for customers.

Over these struggling times, delivery and takeout have become a lifeline for restaurants across the world. While the Covid-19 pandemic is the toughest challenge the industry may have ever had to face, it illustrates the resilience of restaurants, who are shifting their entire business overnight, doing whatever they can to adapt to the crisis. Delivery and takeout are now considered a norm for every restaurant and will stay that way. A recent CGA study in the UK shows that of those who ordered delivery for the first time, or more often than usual, 60% said they would continue their frequency of ordering delivery from restaurants, or takeaways (70%). More than a third (37%) also claimed they were likely to order delivery from pubs and bars in the future, if available. The biggest effect on the industry was likely the mass closures and limitations on indoor dining, which pushed many restaurants to adopt pickup and delivery options as their main source of income. In 2020, Uber Eats generated $4.8 billion in revenue, a 152 percent increase from $1.9 billion in 2019. During the prime hit of Covid-19, Uber Eats as well as other delivery services made tremendous profit and accelerated their business. Research by the National Restaurant Association suggests that “over 80 percent of U.S. adults think they haven’t gone out to restaurants as much as they’d like to since the pandemic began compared to just over 40 percent at the start of 2020. While pickup and delivery have gained prominence during the pandemic, people miss the social aspect of dining out.” (Justin Stabley, PBS) As a result, restaurants had a necessity to pivot their structure to become more pickup and delivery friendly. This shift resulted in many spending more on personal protective equipment. During the pandemic, financial losses caused by the pandemic resulted in a liquidity shortage for many restaurants. The causes of this were closures, a reduction in capacity, and a drastic decrease in the number of customers. Sources from the CNN claim the restaurant business may not ever financially recover from the impacts of Covid-19. “Employment is just

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one issue facing restaurants. Ninety percent of restaurant operators say rising costs will likely continue through 2022, and 96% of operators do not believe supply chain issues will be fixed this year.” (CNN Business) With many new creative and innovative ideas restaurants possess the capability to become better than they were functioning before. One of the most major devastations from the effects of Covid-19 were on the economy. The United States GDP significantly dropped during the pandemic, but we are now in the times of an economic recovery. With the ongoing effects of fiscal support, pent-up demand from consumers for face-to-face services, and the strength in labor markets and asset prices, economic growth is seen to be strong for the remainder of 2022. Total civilian employment, as measured by the Current Population Survey (CPS), fell by 21.0 million from 2021, while the unemployment rate more than tripled, from 3.6 percent to 13.0 percent. Approximately 2.5 million jobs in the restaurant industry were lost bringing the unemployment rate skyrocketing. Studies have shown that nearly 6 in 10 adults have worked in the restaurant industry at some point during their lives. The restaurant industry is seen to add 1.6 million jobs over the next decade, with employment reaching 16.9 million by 2029. During this time of economic recovery, restaurants are hiring more employees as business is slowly headed back to normal. Many loans such as the SBA and PPP loans were given out to select restaurants in need of assistance to buy new equipment and furniture, hire new employees, expand their current locations, and even pay off back taxes. Many restaurant owners claim this economic slowdown due the pandemic changed their business for the better. NYC Hospitality Alliance’s director Andrew Rigie stated that “restaurateurs to whom he’s spoken across the city say sales are 70 to 90% of where they were pre-pandemic.” Slowly but surely restaurant owners and people of the restaurant industry are getting back to normal and will continue to do so.

Over the next two-year planning cycle, there will be many opportunities for restaurants to approach the level of normalcy they aspire to reach. The combination of innovation and creativity will be their salvation. Restaurant owners and businesses need to reach a level of transparency, communication, presence and begin their reset as a collaborative community. Ways to increase economic recovery and growth in the industry after this time would to be increasing investments, increasing revenue, reducing costs, encouraging innovation, and supporting workface readiness. In doing so the restaurant industry will make a full turn around in the future times to come. The major events of life, personal and professional, are celebrated in restaurants. Acquaintances become friends around a table in the safe and controlled environment of a restaurant. Restaurants are more important than ever and will continue to be for generations to come.

Works Cited Luna, Nancy. “COVID-19 Shifts the Restaurant Technology Landscape.” Restaurant Hospitality , vol. 104, no. 6, June 2020, pp. 18–19. Stabley, Justin. “How Restaurants Have Innovated to Face the Pandemic.” PBS.org , 14 Sept. 2021. Yurkevich, Vanessa. “The Restaurant Business Will Probably Never Recover from Covid.” CNN , CNN Business, 2 Feb. 2022. Gomes, C.; Malheiros, C.; Campos, F.; Lima Santos, L. COVID-19’s Impact on the Restaurant Industry. Sustainability 2022,14,11544. Restaurant Performance Index. Washington (DC): National Restaurant Association. [accessed 2020 May 27] Silivestri, Pamela. “Two Years Later, How COVID Changed the Restaurant Business on Staten Island.” SILive.com , SI Advance, 13 May 2022.

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