There is no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has changed all of our lives drastically. However, the entire food industry was especially shaken to its core in the midst of this unprecedented chaos. Restaurants that were pressed in the middle of a grave economic crisis and the threat of the lingering pandemic are forced to evolve to adapt to the new normal or shut down. These changes that individual restaurants and even large chains have undergone to thrive in these harsh circumstances have further led to the trends that will define the F&B industry for the foreseeable future. Here’s our take on how the coronavirus shaped food services and what businesses can do to adapt to it.

Spike in Different Cashless Transactions

We have seen a spike in the use of cashless transactions as a precautionary measure since the coronavirus pandemic started, accelerating an already growing trend. It was seen in Singapore’s shift to cashless systems, unanticipatedly seeing e-payment transactions rise as cash withdrawals and deposits decrease. This means more and more people are buying necessities such as groceries using cashless payments, either through deliveries or over the counter at supermarkets using credit cards. Online food orders and e-commerce transactions also saw a similar trend in the same period as well as online video and music streaming subscription services such as Netflix, Disney+, and Spotify.

How Businesses Can Cope With This:

Foodservice businesses are coping with this trend by adapting to accommodate different cashless modes of payment, procuring the required equipment to be able to accept such transactions. Some restaurants and establishments even started not accepting cash, although some states in the US have prohibited the refusal of cash for transactions.

Increase in Online Grocery Shoppers

When the pandemic started, everyone rushed to the groceries that resulted in the supermarkets becoming empty from panic buyers. As the lockdowns continued, online grocery shopping gained popularity, and this is a habit not going away in the future. In fact, 10% of baby boomers said that they would still buy groceries online even when the pandemic is over. 34% of Gen Xs and 40% of millennials said the same.

How Businesses Can Cope With This:

For F&B businesses, this means a definite reduction of customers buying their products. This was especially true during the first few months of lockdown where they were forced to switch to delivery or take out options only or close down. To cope with this, businesses have evolved to partner with third-party delivery services to adapt to the new demands or get their own delivery services. They have also applied a wide variety of new products and ways of advertisements.

Decline in the Number of People Opting for Dine-In

The decline in the number of people dining in is the ripple effect of the increase in online grocery shoppers amidst the time they weren’t allowed to go outside. The restaurant market took a direct hit in this. As people practice social distancing, they are preferring to grab food and beverages by takeout or delivery.

How Businesses Can Cope With This:

Fortunately, there are a lot of ways restaurants have at their disposal that will diversify the services they offer. Aside from deliveries and take-outs, restaurants, bakeries, and fast-food chains are also opening up pop-up grocery stores. They also partnered with different supermarkets to sell their raw ingredients for consumers. This comes hand in hand with the invention of DIY or Do-It-Yourself meal kits. These meal kits have ingredients for either ramen or burger to be taken home and cooked by the customers themselves. They are also ramping up their food bundles to accommodate the setup such as introducing Family bundles. Luxury restaurants also started to offer in-home chef experiences.

Sanitizing and Food Safety Concerns

Even though there hasn’t been any study or proof that COVID-19 can be contracted through food, thus the risk being low, consumers are still concerned about the possibility. Before the pandemic, health protocols are already imposed in restaurants for consumer safety. But it is reported that 40% of people are now more careful about washing unpackaged fruits and vegetables now more than ever, and the same goes for dine out and take-out scenarios.

Restaurants among other businesses that have started slowly getting back on their feet also have to allot significant time and resources for sanitization of the whole restaurant and even their products. They also have to purchase a supply of face masks and face shields as well as other additional sanitation aid.

How Businesses Can Cope With This:

Restaurants and other food services have made significant changes in making sure that their customers are aware of how much they prioritize hygiene and food safety. For example, they have repackaged their food for delivery with consideration to the safety and prevention of contact as much as possible. They are also reassuring customers verbally, reiterating the safety procedures they undergo in the process of making, packaging, and delivering food to their customers.

Competitive Marketing Strategies

The trends during this pandemic have not worked to the advantage of all foodservice businesses. As everyone struggles to get back on their feet, competition has been worse than ever with business owners pulling out all the stops to ensure revenue. To attract more customers, some even put out up to 50 percent off-menu items.

How Businesses Can Cope With This:

Restaurants are resorting to extreme measures to get more customers again. They are also opening up different promotions such as “buy 1 meal for you, get 1 meal for our health workers” and another buy 1 take 1 promo. Bundle offers have become more popular as well, such as course meals that have discounted prices.

Restaurants have also opted to promote limited-time free delivery promos for a minimum amount purchased to encourage more customers.

The boom of local farm shops

Consumers started turning to local farms for their food supplies such as meat, fruits, and vegetables. This is amidst the out-of-the-charts demands in supermarkets resulting in shortages in supply. Through websites or social media, local farmers have set up their shops and promoted their significantly more affordable farm produce products, and successfully built a good customer relationship.

In addition, we will see more of the increasing number of people opting to buy at local farm shops even after the pandemic. The main thing restaurants and other F&B services can do to keep up with this trend is to try to coexist with these shops or even partner up with them.

Reduced Demand for Exotic Food

The coronavirus was thought to have originated in the Wuhan seafood market. Even if there are disputes around what animal really transferred the virus to humans, many people have started negatively reacting to exotic animal markets that sell snakes, deers, raccoons, dogs, bats, and others that are said to even be slaughtered in front of customers.

During the first wave of the pandemic in 2019, wildlife farms in China have been shut down or quarantined as a strict ban is imposed in farming and consuming exotic animals.

For consumers, it cannot be argued that outbreaks are more likely to occur when animals that live in different environments are brought together in wet markets for they might carry viruses that are specific to the environments they come from. All of this contributed to the decrease of exotic animal demand.

How Businesses Can Cope With This:

Restaurants that have exotic animals as special cuisine are the most affected by this decline in demand. In response, these restaurants have started exploring different cuisines or securing a permit or certification from authorities that give their customers reassurance about the safety and cleanliness of their exotic cuisines.

Widespread Use of Technology for Orders

The pandemic just fast-tracked F&B businesses’ integration with technology. The use of social media such as Facebook and Instagram has significantly helped them reach out to their customers during the lockdown, thus the surge of page creation as one of the necessities for thriving businesses. Creating their own apps for delivery or communication has also become popular.

How Businesses Can Cope With This:

The good thing about technology is that we don’t see it going away in the future. Businesses cope with technology by maintaining their social media accounts with announcements and engaging with their customers, as well as introducing more and more app features to promote their safety protocols and monitor orders. Self-serve ordering terminals are also a part of restaurant technological innovations and they are not going away as well, so long as they are regularly sanitized.

Into the New Normal

With COVID-19 being the unexpected catalyst of drastic changes in the F&B industry, it’s clearer than ever that foodservice alterations are here to stay. The pandemic has offered restaurants bizarre experiences and opportunities to learn and become more flexible and diverse, as seen in how they approached the changing demands of their consumers. With these new processes, we can only hope that businesses can finally build themselves back again and learn from what the pandemic has taught all of us so they can be more prepared for what lies ahead in the industry and become resilient against the future challenges post-Covid.

Checking out the food industry this pandemic? Read ”How Restaurants Are Adapting to the Takeout and Delivery Model Amid COVID-19” to learn more.