Yes, we have been told a bunch of times about the famous “new normal” during COVID-19, but just as there are negative things, there are also positive things. In the face of frustration and fear that business is affected, my mind began turning to find solutions. Here are some examples:
Food delivery apps
Although already in place, the food delivery sector, as well as take away, experienced unprecedented growth. Growth is not only from McDonald’s or Burger King, leading the way in this sector, but even from the restaurant on the corner.
For example, in Mexico, the Mexican Online Sale Association says that during confinement, 5 out of 10 consumers decided to buy online (40% was food) to avoid leaving home. The bike and motorcycle delivery guys, with their boxes on the back, are already part of the urban landscape. One of these companies, Didi Food, showed 75% week-to-week growth in restaurant registration on the platform. But also UberEats or Rappi, as well as Glovo and JustEat, depending on the country.
Fast food
Consumption of this type of food is not limited to the apps mentioned in the previous bullet. In Panama, for example, McDonald’s opened stalls outside restaurants that let consumers pick up food on foot, without the need for a car. Meanwhile, in other Central American countries such as Guatemala, Costa Rica, and El Salvador, fast food sales picked up in this crisis.
New products
Faced suddenly with overproduction, poultry companies had to look for ways to add value to chicken.
In Peru, the temporary idea of canned chicken arose, and in the face of the impossibility that Peruvians couldn’t go out to eat their flag plate: rotisserie chicken, San Fernando came up with a packed rotisserie-flavored chicken, so that people could enjoy it at home.
Although I am sure that in Peru they prefer to enjoy rotisserie chicken in a restaurant −just like me having tacos in a taquería− it is a good option to be able to eat it at home.
It only remains for me to express one concern: Bags, boxes, lids, packaging, that is, the amount of extra waste that is generated with all this, after years of trying to reduce it.
What do you think?
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