FEBRUARY 2021 | 15
NATIONAL
And the winner is: takeaway and grocery deliveries Each crisis has its winners and losers and, during this pandemic one clear winner has particularly stood out, as a recent survey has shown: takeaway and grocery delivery. The Netherlands has a long tradition of grocery deliveries: from 1966, the ‘moving supermarket’, known as the SRV, became a household name on the streets all over the country. Even before this, bakeries, butchers and milkmen were already delivering to people’s homes. But when it comes to meal and grocery home deliveries, the pandemic has caused an unprecedented boom, a survey has found. According to the Food Service Institute Netherlands (FSIN), the overall food delivery market in the Netherlands grew by more than 43 percent last year, and its figures show that so-called ‘delivery players’ accounted for nearly 10 percent of the total food and drink expenditure. Takeaways and groceries Last year, takeaway delivery accounted for nearly 23 percent of the total outof-home food and drink market. The recently published Foodshopper Monitor, an annual survey by the FSIN that looked at the effects of the crisis on consumer behaviour, and in particular at the aspects convenience, budget and enjoyment, shows that the delivery of takeaways grew by 37 percent, to more than € 2.7 billion euros in 2020. Without Covid-19, the FSIN said, this would have been around 14 percent. An even bigger winner, the survey found, was grocery deliveries. Instead
of the projected growth of € 600 million, in 2020 the delivery of groceries by food retailers (supermarkets and speciality stores) increased by an estimated 49 percent to almost € 2.7 billion. All in all, this has brought the total market share of food retail (including wine delivery, cakes and DIY cooking boxes) to 6.1 percent, it was reported. Really taken off “Covid has acted as a driving force,” said Inga Blokker, director of The Food Research Company, the research agency of the FSIN. In a press release and in various Dutch media, she confirmed that food delivery, although a growing trend for some time, has now really taken off. “People who had never ordered before, have now been forced to discover the convenience of having hot meals and groceries delivered at home,” she said. According to Blokker, time has moved forward by a few years with regard to the growth of the delivery market. While delivery services have opened a large number of new branches this year, chains and restaurants that previously offered little or no delivery service also made the switch quickly. Change in variety But it wasn’t just numbers, the variation has also increased. The survey showed that consumers are no longer ordering meals just on Sunday evenings, but also more often on weekdays. The platform for Dutch greenhouse vegetable cultivation,
groentennieuws.nl, also reported that the numbers reveal a new picture: younger generations in particular increasingly opt for delivery when they just don’t feel like cooking. In the past, millennials and the so-called Generation Z may have decided to “cook anyway”, since Covid, having a meal delivered is the most frequently cited alternative when they don’t feel like cooking. They also prefer this to a readyto-eat meal from the supermarket. Future structural growth The growth that has now been accelerated will not simply disappear once the Covid measures are over, said Blokker, who foresees that after corona “even people who did not order food or groceries before will continue to do so, every now and then,” and that the trend of takeaway delivery promises future growth for the delivery
market. “Although the delivery turnover will certainly not increase as much in 2021 as in 2020, as far as food delivery is concerned, the signals for future growth are promising,” Blokker said. This positive prognosis was echoed by Philippe Vorst, CEO of the Dutch chain New York Pizza, whose company experienced ‘extreme’ growth last year: 20 percent. He says the 221 stores had “never sold as many pizzas as last year”, and, as he told AD newspaper, he expects this to continue: “Someone who now has meals delivered will not stop ordering.” But, as Vorst added: “Our success means that others suffer. I would rather have it differently,” highlighting that, when there are winners, there will also be those that lose out. Written by Femke van Iperen
Online supermarket Crisp app
The closing of schools leads to major problems Thinking back to when many of us were adolescents, the news of school closing would have been music to most of our ears. Not having to go into school and sit behind a laptop all day doesn’t sound all that bad. However, today’s youth has recently been convinced otherwise. Since the closing of the schools in December, the transition to online learning has been a challenge to teachers and students alike. Although the previous school closure in March was a necessary measure, the long-term negative consequences for the younger generation are becoming clearer by the day. According to Het Parool newspaper, an astounding 61% of teachers worry about
the effect it will have on children if schools are unable to open their doors before the end of February.
The concerns that teachers have indicated are very far-reaching. Mental health, lack of social interaction, stagnation in social development and little to no physical exercise all contribute to an overall unhealthier lifestyle for the younger generation. For adolescents, who are supposed to be in the peak of their physical and mental development, these hindrances will prove to be more detrimental to their personal growth than one might initially expect. Teachers are especially concerned about students who are already struggling with academic performance or experience social disconnect with others in their age group. Now that they are even less exposed to situations requiring direct social interaction, or even more easily distracted than at school, these children face extra challenges. Running behind in one’s education can have a lasting impact on subsequent phases of education. Some parents are unable to offer their children constant access to a computer, especially if they have several children following online education at once. Luckily, some schools can provide children with a borrowed
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laptop, but unfortunately not all schools can provide this luxury. The same counts for students with learning disorders or disabilities: some can go to school in order to be taught personally, whilst others are required to work from home like everyone else.
Furthermore, the growing divergence between individual pupils’ performance make lesson planning and design more challenging for teachers. Additionally, increasing expectations on the part of students and parents, require teachers to tend to all these individual requirements even more thoroughly than before. Working through Teams or any other online video platform, teachers need to spend extra time adapting their lessons to fit the medium, whilst leaving room for spontaneous events happening during the (limited) class time. Time needed for team meetings, consulting colleagues and online administration only adds to teachers’ responsibilities. All in all, teachers feel insufficient support from the Dutch government. The additional support and supplementary funding, as promised by the minister of education, have not yet materialized. Hopefully action will be taken shortly to live up to these promises.
Not only teachers, but pupils too have voiced their concerns with online education. Secondary school pupils, united in the National Pupils’ Action Committee (LAKS), have taken action and are insisting on the adaptation of final exams, scheduled to take place in May. Although measures have been taken to take into account increased student absence during exam times, no major changes have as yet been made to the difficulty level of the exams. Some schools have taken measures to ensure a safe learning environment at school, with 1.5-meter distance between pupils and teachers in place. Yet, many schools still lack the means to allow safe physical attendance on school grounds. It seems that stress levels are at an all-time peak for teachers, students and parents alike. While everyone is finding their own ways of coping with these bizarre circumstances, we can all hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. As everyone is doing their best to accommodate as best as possible, we continue to discover new methods that make everyone’s lives easier in an online environment. Remember, despite the hardship, there is always a silver lining. Written by Charlotte Seijger
27-01-21 19:57
