What the Pandemic Did to Restaurants

Image Credit: https://unsplash.com/@lasse_bergqvist

July 9th, 2021

I originally wrote this piece 366 days ago. So much has changed, but much of what I spoke of still has enough relevance that I’ve left this largely unedited for content, and only revised grammatical and syntax errors. What follows below are my thoughts during a much more highly restricted time in the United States, and a time of even greater uncertainty.

What I did know for sure was that the impact from the Covid-19 Pandemic, and its ripple effects were coming with a strong force for the Restaurant Industry. I added a few new comments from 2021 in italics regarding a vehement viewpoint on To-Go food. Also, knowing what I know now, some of the most impactful points were about the workers and labor in Restaurants and Hospitality—as we see playing out on a growing scale in 2021.

Although much of my tone in this piece is almost fatalistic at points, I do have a strong belief that the right balance of intention, collaboration, technology, innovation, and systemic change can converge to solve nearly any problem.

-Brendan McCaughey

—————————————————————————————————————————————

July 8th, 2020

Culinary Cataclysm

The way 2020 is unfolding is like unwrapping some kind of origami that unfurls chaos with each fold. There are viral threats, economic bubbles popping, supply chains disrupted, large-scale civil rights activism and violent scenes in cities across the United States.

The way the world has been going, the last thing you need is another apocalypse story. But, there are cries across the internet, and in cities across the country. I am saddened to inform you that there is another threat to our society, but this one is not new to 2020—all the chaos of this year just compounded and accelerated it.

The culinary world is on the verge of crumbling. I have felt this and seen growing evidence for some time, and unfortunately did not sound the alarm early enough. It sounds brash, and alarmist to say those words. To chefs themselves, many have realized that even in a booming economy the restaurant industry was far from a cash cow, or a sure way to sustain a growing quality of life over the long term.

Rather than a clearly defined path to a healthy future, the entire industry has been teetering on the edge in various ways for years now. The industry has already been broken or at least compromised in many ways. On just about every level examined we can notice opportunities for improvement of the dysfunctions identified. Some are well-developed problems, and some are new and growing from current circumstances.

So what is wrong with the restaurant industry? Wow. That’s a question I’ve wanted to write about for a LONG time. Finally, sitting down to answer that I don’t quite know where to start, I think we need to get a little context before answering that.

Let’s start by asking, what is the restaurant industry?

The restaurant industry is the heartbeat of every other industry. It is inseparable. The restaurant industry keeps the wheels turning. Every axis of our societies intersect in restaurants: business meetings, celebrations, dates, anniversaries, and meals with friends and families are all crucial to our social fabric and economic growth.

What is the restaurant industry? It is the venous system of the organism that is our society. The meals, enjoyment, and interactions facilitated by restaurants represent the lifeblood of a thriving community. Speaking medically is apt because now we can start to talk about health.

If the restaurant industry represents the veins that connect all our other industries, then we should be extremely mindful of its healthy operation, right?

Wrong.

As often is the case with our physical bodies, the focus on health is not at the forefront of the restaurant industry in its current embodiment.

No, in fact, the industry’s veins were already pumping a thick and dark sludge, and many areas had lost circulation through thick clots. The very continuation of circulation is in jeopardy. The realities of restaurant industry life, as with the realities of health, are often overlooked, or ignored by many.

This is an aftershock caused by pre-existing conditions and the ongoing public health battle itself. More people need to know about this and be working on solutions. More people need to be paying attention to the outcries across the country from all levels of restaurants—the vital signs are failing.

Usually, if attention is paid to the culinary world, it is often through glamorized media, disconnected from the daily toil unfolding in restaurants and kitchens everywhere. There’s great creator content out there, but most conventional media has only skimmed the surface of a complex world for the entertainment of a mainstream audience.

We are no longer on the surface with the issues—they run deep, and the situation unfolding is exacerbating everything that was already under stress. People need to be working together to solve things and create new ways of operating on all levels. 2020 should be about a recognition of the issues and problem solving for innovative solutions.

The restaurant industry was not healthy heading into 2020, even riding unprecedented economic highs, and it is certainly a high-risk demographic for susceptibility to our current pandemic and economic adjustment period. Currently, the health of the entire industry has taken a severe turn for the worse and may have ripple effects that cause lasting damage and even death to many parts of the restaurant industry.

Let’s explore some of the recent impacts on 3 key areas—restaurant workers, restaurant clients, and the restaurant system itself.

Workers—

Image Credit: https://unsplash.com/@clorisyy

Rather than work from home like many have been able, most of the workers in restaurants have either had to soldier on and live through the polarities of very slow business, or absolutely slammed from takeout or brief periods of reopening. On the other hand, many have just been out of luck (but maybe lucky enough for unemployment, maybe not…), and are stuck awaiting a return to work, but facing a future where even the most informed economists scarcely can identify the extent of the impact from many layers of intersecting complexity surrounding the viral response.

Workers are currently faced with not just the usual hardships like a restaurant abruptly closing from financial mismanagement, but the fact that instead of going down the street and getting another job at another restaurant, that option is also off the table. Rather than the security blanket for all workers (and the ultimate fallback for those in other industries) that the restaurant industry previously represented, it now equates to many life rafts adrift in a vast ocean. Seemingly everyone is on their own.

Will the sea ultimately calm, and allow those workers adrift in their life rafts to board the ship again and sail off back to business as usual for restaurants? Perhaps.

Will everyone get back on?

That’s a big question. Will people want to come back to their jobs, or get new ones in the same field elsewhere? Or will they want to transition to other lines of work? Right now the pre-2020 restaurant industry only has so much allure to it, so I’d have to speculate that many will not decide to return and are actively seeking other lines of work.

Why is that important? Well, there was already a timeless cross-industry truth, of “it’s hard to find good people” that was even more abundantly true in the restaurant world. The skills, combined with the endurance required to sustain a life in restaurants are hard to train—and sustain.

So if we lose some of our best people that is not insignificant. It’s potentially fatal.

Clients, guests, and customers—

Image Credit: https://unsplash.com/@enisyavuz

This one should need very few words, it is obvious beyond all else that dining is different since our global pandemic and resulting shifts in 2020. The casual way we’d saunter into any establishment we’d like, sit down and order anything on the menu seems a distant and quaint reality. Although most people certainly took for granted the ability to have such freedom and abundance, hopefully, the lack of those options has allowed many diners to reflect on how special restaurants really are.

Many of the uninitiated or uninformed don’t see that much of a difference today versus last year. They can still get their food delivered, or picked up to-go right?

Someone who adopts a perception that places convenience over quality might not notice the distinctions, but I guarantee the people that are used to dining inside a restaurant have been faced with the stark truth that to-go food does not taste the same.

Even the best chefs and establishments cannot account for the journey home in any mix of plastic or cardboard. Once your food is boxed up it is suffering and diminishing in quality with each passing minute. (Astonishing how many people don’t even realize how much better food is when it is served at its peak of preparation)

That experience has probably driven a lot of cookware and cookbook purchases over the course of the pandemic. Things are different for those that were used to restaurant dining as it was. They miss the exploratory journeys that restaurants provided, and the consistency of a professionally prepared and served meal. They want to return to the way things were.

(July 2021 I later found out that many restaurants such as Alinea in Chicago had adapted elaborate TOGO programs that preserved quality (as they would), and that this became an entire space for innovative practices including recipes, procedures and ingredients staged to various levels of completion sent to clients.)

For many, they may have grown accustomed to a new mix of takeout and attempting cuisine at home. They might still view returning to restaurants indoors in their previous incarnation as a high-risk activity and avoid it for the foreseeable future.

Like restaurant workers, diners are faced with the current uncertainties and have choices to make on how to, and where to spend their money and time. Where will they spend? We’ll have to find out.

The Restaurant System Itself—

The system. The man. The industry. Where to begin on what lies ahead for the entire system?

Will restaurants ever return to the way they were?

Before speculating on that, I’d rather discuss whether that is even desirable? Do we want restaurants to return to the way they were?

What??? But of course, we must!?
I propose that going “back” to the way things were is not the way forward. As I’d alluded to, the bill of health was far from clean heading into this year, and the virus has simply compounded the stress on weak areas. There is now more than ever an unprecedented need to enter into the discussion about what is wrong with our food system, and how we can re-think it.

Right now, it has never been more clear (although it has been clear for years) that the restaurant system needs to change. On all levels. Staff compensation, workplace wellbeing, mental health, the prices, the attitude (and gratitude), the way supplies flow, and just about any other angle there are significant ways to optimize and create positive change.

It’s all on the table. Let’s rethink the systems

The future for restaurants can be a bright one, but that will require a focus on overall health and not solely profits.