How Food Delivery Is Affecting Restaurants

Food delivery has taken the world by storm. Due to Covid-19, more people are eating at home rather than going out to restaurants. Food delivery has become a booming success that can be attributed to the inconvenience and danger of traveling to a restaurant to eat when one can save time, and even money, by staying home. However, as a result of the recent influx in popularity, the industry has both taken a toll on the restaurant industry and had a dramatic impact on the food industry as a whole.

One such impact has been on the supermarket industry, an area that has grown drastically in response to Covid-19. Companies like Whole Foods are selling more food and now also expanding their food delivery services. Similar to the preexisting delivery industry, this industry not only survived but thrived because fewer people were going out for dinner and more were cooking and ordering in.

In Philadelphia, many companies and industries are continuing to struggle through these troubling times. According to Parkway president, Robert Zuritsky, “People are not going into the office which is hurting restaurants directly. People are not having breakfast, lunch, or dinner out. Restaurants could have had three opportunities to sell food. Some restaurants have adjusted and expanded into the new seating in the sidewalks and on the streets and are doing more business in the evenings and weekends with people wanting to get back outside and away from their house. Many more people work from home, eat from home, order in food, or cook. So all of those transactions have not returned to the city. Comcast, one of the largest employers in the city, has still not announced when they are coming back. Their employees were buying thousands of meals a day. Fortunately, there is an uptick and a recovery in the parking business, so people are comfortable coming back into the city and back into the restaurants.”

Although the end of Covid-19 doesn’t seem to be in the near future, certain cities and areas across the U.S. are reopening, giving profit back to restaurants and putting money back into the economy.

Regardless of the pandemic, the food delivery industry will thrive. After all, the industry was always destined to grow because of the new generation of kids, millennials, and elders who seek convenience. As more people continue to invest, one will only see the industry grow further. It will take a lot for the restaurant industry to rebuild from all of the change and chaos that the pandemic caused, yet even after they rebuild, many will turn to the food delivery as a safer, more convenient option.