As cities went quiet, the chefs who could began converting their establishments from dine-in to takeout. A week ago, I started looking for ways Restaurant tech was coming to the rescue and found surprisingly little. Delivery service Grubhub announced $100 million in fee deferment to specific restaurants, an offer that sounded good but got worse when you dug into the fine print. Not only was it a deferment—instead of a fee waiving—for only a month, it obliged restaurants to use Grubhub for a year after signing up for the program. (Grubhub has since revised this policy and now only requires restaurants to stay on the platform until the deferred fees are paid off.)

Delivery services are double-edged swords for the restaurants that use them even in the best of times, because they scoop up much, if not all, of a restaurant’s takeout profit.

Other interesting changes – now you can order a pizza and a 6 pack!  One has to wonder if this will continue – for sure there will be a demand!

Carry-out has been a god-send to the fast food industry.  When Covid was beginning and the announcement came that restaurants had to close their dining rooms, Burger King announced they would be going bankrupt.  Now they announced that their drive-through business is up 90%!

Carry out and drive-through windows are thriving because women aren’t all of a sudden deciding to cook 3 meals a day.  Who does that?  For sure not me!  No matter how good the food is I must say I’m tired of eating out of styrofoam containers.  I really encourage customers support their favorite restaurants to help ensure they will be here when the crisis is over.

Everyone supporting each other during this time is what will make the difference.