Covid-19 Impact: Restaurant & Food Service

COVID-19 Impact: Restaurant & Food Service COVID-19’s Impact on the Restaurant and Food Service Industry and How Brands Can Continue to Serve Their Customers The $899 billion restaurant and food service industry contributes four percent to the nation’s GDP. What’s more, consumers typically spend almost half of their monthly food budget on dining out. So, you can imagine the detriment social distancing protocols will have on the economy – as well as the bottom line for restaurant owners and the millions of employees and their families who work at these establishments.

In just three weeks, nearly two-thirds of adults decreased how often they eat out as a result of COVID-19.

Research firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas reported that over 600 food service industry job cuts so far have been directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and another 7.4 million jobs in the sector could be cut or severely impacted in the coming months.

While it doesn't look like dine-in eating will be an option in the near future, many wholesale suppliers and restaurants are finding ways to serve their customers through takeout and delivery options. Some establishments are using food delivery services, like Caviar, DoorDash and Seamless, to help facilitate this process. However, analysts are predicting a decline in these services too, as individuals become more and more wary about proper food handling.

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Let’s Keep the Food Supply Chain Moving Ben Walker, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Baldor Specialty Foods, said it best, “There is no making money right now. It’s redefining our role to keep the food supply running – from farmer to consumer.” That’s why wholesale suppliers, restaurants and others are finding new ways to serve their consumers, employees and surrounding communities in this time of need.

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Food delivery services are defaulting to “contactless” delivery options.

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Restaurants are selling takeout orders, chilled and ready meals, fruits, vegetables and household provisions, such as cleaning products and toilet paper.

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Food supply wholesalers who typically service restaurants and schools, are now selling essential items that have been flying off grocery store shelves directly to consumers.

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Restaurants are providing meals for employees and their families.

At Goodway Group, we believe there are three key areas where restaurant and food service marketers should be focused right now: •

Timely and Responsive: The shifts your brand decides to implement to keep things in motion must continue to be on-purpose for your brand, while also being timely and responsive. Are your hours of operation updated on your website and other platforms where consumers would search for this information? If servicing carryout only, do your phone lines have the capacity to handle the heavier than normal call volume?

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Community at the Core: Prioritizing the health and safety of your community is at the core of what matters most. Ensure safety measures are established and are at the forefront of your marketing message to ease customers’ fears. A service-minded message – ‘curb-side pick-up’ or ‘pay what you can’ – will go a long way in creating lifetime customer loyalty.

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Data Hygiene: It is the ideal time to be focused on your first-party data – both its hygiene and your strategy on putting it to use. Modeling audiences and gaining insight into the highest lifetime value customers will give you a strong POV on who you need to reach first when regular dining resumes.

Goodway Group is the digital partner advertisers trust to drive campaign performance and media efficiency. Proud to be completely independently owned and operated, Goodway provides trustworthy expertise that meets its clients’ needs — and no one else’s. Using predictive intelligence, Goodway helps advertisers get the most value out of every impression across all paid digital media. Through the combination of employing the smartest technology and the most experienced people in the industry, Goodway delivers authentic results. © 2020 Goodway Group. All rights reserved.

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