Learning From COVID-19: Studying The Impact Of The Pandemic

When on-premise dining shut down last year, full-service restaurants were forced to rapidly pivot their business model or face indefinite closure. Many restaurants turned to delivery and takeout, while others began offering meal kits, and some even began selling groceries. 

Based on the lessons learned over the past year, restaurants are now building more flexibility into business models, targeting multiple distribution channels and product lines.

Technology played a critical role in enabling restaurants to quickly modify their distribution strategy in response to the pandemic shutdowns.

Reservation systems quickly added features that allowed restaurants to safely and efficiently accept takeout and delivery orders using their own established channels, and third-party delivery companies played a key role in enabling restaurants to reach new customers during a time when consumers were staying home.

Virtual meeting technology also allowed some restaurants to offer enhanced in-home experiences to guests such as virtual cooking and cocktail-making classes.

The pandemic is forcing the industry to reckon with longstanding deficiencies and weaknesses in existing restaurant business models, including a marketing strategy that relied far too heavily on one type of distribution and a fundamentally broken labor model.

During a time of economic uncertainty, a flexible business model with multiple revenue streams is crucial because it allows restaurant owners to diversify risk instead of putting all their eggs in one basket. In addition, the restaurant industry is traditionally very labor-intensive and employees are the heart of the operation.

To achieve long-term success, new restaurants need to rethink the balance of  capital and labor going forward, while also putting their employees first by creating an inclusive, supportive work environment with a living wage.

We discuss this in my Nonprofit Social Enterprise and Food Justice course–specifically as it pertains to food access. 

With the shuttering of many businesses and significant increase in unemployment, many families are struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table. Additionally, families with children who are reliant on the school food programs can be negatively impacted if classes are not held in person and the children are not receiving those meals. 

Other impacts to the food system include the challenges within the supply chain system, as witnessed last year during the beginning of the lockdown when grocery stores could not stock certain items. While there was food in the supply chain, it was typically directed toward restaurants and institutional food service, which were closed. Trying to pivot an entire supply chain to then make those wholesale items more retail friendly is a significant challenge.

Critical analysis skills will be very important, as fast decision making is required when handling emergency situations such as the challenges presented during the pandemic. The ability to analyze a challenge both quantitatively and qualitatively while being flexible is what will be needed moving forward, moreso I believe than we have had in the past.  

Other major considerations that I think are critical moving forward is a dedication to equity and inclusion within the food and beverage industry, as well as a focus on addressing pervasive challenges such as sexual harassment and wages and benefits.

Most important now is to ask questions, research, study, and engage with local business owners and policy makers to understand the complexities of the food system–both in regards to food access but also effectively managing commercial establishments. 

We have many resources available through the library, the National Restaurant Association reports, journals, magazines, and websites that are identifying these challenges. Taking the time to learn more–understand the root causes–will help to create a path to move forward.

There are many people at Cornell in our community that are working towards issues of food justice, especially with the added challenges of navigating through the pandemic. I am looking forward to learning more about what others are doing and begin sharing experiences and ideas of how to move forward.

I am an associate director for the Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures and we are currently working on a white paper on life after COVID-19 for the hospitality, health, and design industries which I am looking forward to sharing later this year.

Attraction and retention are two key human resources challenges facing the hospitality industry. During the pandemic, we saw unemployment rates reach record highs. The hospitality industry was hit the hardest and employment in the industry is still down by over 3 million jobs compared to pre-pandemic levels. Employers had to let go of skilled workers, some of whom left the industry altogether.

As we recover, the focus will be on getting people back to work, back to the industry, and ensuring employee safety.

One of the most important strategies will be maintaining employee morale. Employees need to feel valued and supported.

My research in hotels and restaurants shows that employees care about job security, wages, benefits, development and promotion opportunities, and discretion over their work. We know that investing in these kinds of practices translates into lower turnover, higher productivity, and ultimately, higher customer satisfaction. This will be important now more than ever to help the industry recover. 

Be flexible and open to opportunities, including different types and levels of jobs. Most importantly, stay positive! You can be confident that the lessons you have learned during this time and the skills you have gained at SHA have prepared you to successfully navigate the changing industry landscape.

Managing the customer journey almost literally step-by-step became critical, says Professor Slaugh.

Ensuring that customer groups had sufficient space between other groups and staff took paramount importance. While customers could previously wander to some degree throughout the tasting buildings, the winery had to adapt its layout, communication processes, and support processes.

For example, the Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery established a prescribed journey for four to six tasting stations.

In guiding the winery through the challenges of change, Meaghan Frank was surprised to find several benefits and found the overall redesign to be surprisingly positive. Without any familiarity with the lean process improvement philosophy,, Meaghan happened to implement process changes that correspond to key tenets of lean: continuous flow, simple visual controls, and the elimination of various forms of waste. For example, going from many stations each with thirty wines to several stations with only three wines dramatically reduced inventory levels and wine wasted.

According to Meaghan Frank, the process flow model for the Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery Progressive Tasting Experience was a complete pivot that resulted from the pandemic.

“It took something as drastic as this to help us rethink what our priorities were and how to keep guests safe,” she wrote in an email. “We drastically reduced the amount of waste in terms of wine. Additionally, it was easier for new team members to grasp the notion of each station so less training up-front was needed. We are offering the Progressive Tasting Experience again this year because it was so popular and we received great feedback.”

During the fall of 2020, Meaghan Frank faced the challenge of converting tasting experiences for cold weather operations, as some of the porch spaces were no longer appropriate, says Professor Slaugh. The students were tasked to design the customer path through two buildings and an enclosed porch–starting from check-in and concluding at a sales counter.

They learned an introduction to lean philosophy before class, including this video example of food distribution after Hurricane Sandy. By the end of class, they produced a flow diagram for the winter wine tasting. They also suggested a new innovation for the process based on a brainstorming activity involving real customer reviews and the seven types of lean waste.

The students were instrumental in helping our team think about waste with an emphasis on customer experience, says Meaghan Frank. 

“One idea taken directly from the class was students went through all of our negative reviews on Tripadvisor, social media, and Yelp to identify certain pain points. One of the biggest complaints was that there was not a lot of space to wait, especially in inclement weather. We are planning to build a museum/welcome center in 2022 to relieve this issue.”