FOOD BUSINESS DURING PANDEMIC

The restaurant business is currently surprised by the situation of the increasing population exposed to COVID-19, especially in the regions of Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia. Like the initial entry of the SARS-2 virus in February last year, the government again took the attitude of temporarily closing restaurants during the Imposition of Restrictions on Emergency Community Activities for the Java and Bali regions. The take away model from available outlets and online orders is an alternative for product marketing to continue. The demand for cold supply chains in the first half of this year has not increased significantly from the alternative restaurant marketing model, only by 6%. In the second semester of this year, the increase could be smaller than the first semester because it has been more than a month since mall activities have been closed, where favorite restaurants are inside the mall.

Meanwhile, in this year’s pandemic situation, there has been a change in people’s behavior to order food online by using good packaging: hygienic, safe (sealed), recyclable and reusable. According to food packaging manufacturers, their turnover in the first half of this year rose by around 20-25%. Frozen food delivery services have increased significantly by using land and air transportation modes in line with the increase in demand both through the retail market, restaurants, and resellers. Among the significant increase in demand for frozen foods, more for the main vegetable and fruit products, and the fulfillment of affordable protein, such as fish and chicken. This is based on measurement results where people’s purchasing power decreases by an average of 5-10%

Here are the food business guidelines and how to deal with the opportunities in this pandemic situation (Source: FAO)