The foodservice industry suffered irrevocable damage during 2020. An array of stay-at-home orders across the country and consumer wariness around eating out caused sales to plummet, and some restaurants were forced to close their doors for good.
To survive, some restaurants pivoted to retail, selling everyday staples like milk, bread, and eggs along with specialty house-made products. Others began to package and sell meal kits made with ingredients they were no longer able to use.
As dine-in operations came to an abrupt stop, the proliferation of ghost kitchens continued to rise. These facilities are built to produce food for delivery only, with no customer facing areas, meaning that restaurants can cut down on in-house expenses and ramp up their delivery services.
Despite these pivots, most foodservice establishments faced extreme financial hardships. In August, Technomic reported that the industry could face up to $300 billion in lost sales compared to last year, and earlier this month, the National Restaurant Association estimated that more than 500,000 restaurants of every type were in jeopardy.
Though there was a brief respite during the summer months as COVID cases lessened, restaurants have had to prepare for a second wave of the pandemic this winter.
Looking ahead to 2021, experts at creative services agency Carbonate believe that the foodservice industry will embrace a survival mode, looking to innovation and for new ideas to stay alive. The agency also sees sustainability, diversity, health-driven items, and partially-prepared meals as big trends of the next year.
from Industry Operations https://ift.tt/3pAxDZE
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