It has to be said, that the combination of Delivery app incompetence and exploitative business models working in tandem with Government corruption and lack of aid for the Food Industry in the US its a fucking miracle it has lasted this long at all.
I'm afraid to say that the Industry to me will never be the same, and what it is today even as it defies Shutdown orders will not be enough for it to be close to what it was as the finance channels are breaking down before our eyes--take out models are less than ~10% of revenue from what a normal 100% service brought in. I always thought the Industry needed to be disrupted as it was wasteful, abusive and over all toxic in many ways. But the fact that so many are resrtin to Gofund me crowdsourcing then actual food sales screams that we've seen the same thing happen to the Restaurant Industry that happened to the Health Care Industry. I've been in both and the parallels are quite obvious to see.
But what we've seen with COIVD is the systemic take-down and consolidation of the Food Industry from both Private (and I use that word loosely) and Public sides which only really benefited the massive Corporate players who benefited from PPP and have the resources and financial and legal wherewithal that small private restaurant owners can't afford. Wallstreet and VC firms like Softbank also made out like bandits with such poor models like Doordash IPO.
I'm sad to say this but I think the US will be a culinary wasteland in all but the food truck and high end dining end points, everything in between will be sucked up by large corporations and Ghost kitchen models. We had made so much progress that one can't help but feel entirely dejected about it, especially now as Food Education is even more dire than ever as 70% of all Americans are classified as fat and obese [0].
I just hope people support their local farmers and begin cooking more at home then continue to pour money into what has clearly been a hi-jacking of small entrepreneurial people trying to advance the very low standard of culinary edification in the US in relation to Europe and Asia.
It's a sad situation, but I'm retired as a chef for good now I'm glad to say I exited at a high that I think will never be seen again.
I'm afraid to say that the Industry to me will never be the same, and what it is today even as it defies Shutdown orders will not be enough for it to be close to what it was as the finance channels are breaking down before our eyes--take out models are less than ~10% of revenue from what a normal 100% service brought in. I always thought the Industry needed to be disrupted as it was wasteful, abusive and over all toxic in many ways. But the fact that so many are resrtin to Gofund me crowdsourcing then actual food sales screams that we've seen the same thing happen to the Restaurant Industry that happened to the Health Care Industry. I've been in both and the parallels are quite obvious to see.
But what we've seen with COIVD is the systemic take-down and consolidation of the Food Industry from both Private (and I use that word loosely) and Public sides which only really benefited the massive Corporate players who benefited from PPP and have the resources and financial and legal wherewithal that small private restaurant owners can't afford. Wallstreet and VC firms like Softbank also made out like bandits with such poor models like Doordash IPO.
I'm sad to say this but I think the US will be a culinary wasteland in all but the food truck and high end dining end points, everything in between will be sucked up by large corporations and Ghost kitchen models. We had made so much progress that one can't help but feel entirely dejected about it, especially now as Food Education is even more dire than ever as 70% of all Americans are classified as fat and obese [0].
I just hope people support their local farmers and begin cooking more at home then continue to pour money into what has clearly been a hi-jacking of small entrepreneurial people trying to advance the very low standard of culinary edification in the US in relation to Europe and Asia.
It's a sad situation, but I'm retired as a chef for good now I'm glad to say I exited at a high that I think will never be seen again.
0: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm