Creative Destruction in the Restaurant: Eight Things COVID-19 Changed Forever

3 Min Read By Tom Riccio

Necessity is the mother of invention, and COVID-19 has been the greatest single driver of necessity the restaurant industry has ever seen. Few industries were hit as hard – and few have been as inventive in their solutions. According to Statista, between March and October 2020 the food services industry lost $130 billion in sales compared to the previous year. Those that survived did so because they implemented massive changes, quickly. 

But enough has been written about the industry’s woes. As COVID-19 cases begin to decline and more people are talking about a return to normalcy, it’s worth a minute to reflect on what has changed for good. 

Here is my list of eight things COVID-19 may have changed forever, from abandoned processes to others headed toward extinction – and emerging ones we’re just now seeing. (Admittedly, the final chapter of the pandemic hasn’t been written, so this list comes with an asterisk: The past year has reminded us that unpredictability is a…