Permanent Industry Changes in the Post-COVID World

[jimmywilson69]

other than pizza shop fare or maybe even Chinese, take out is terrible. We were given a bonefish grille gift card by our elderly neighbors for taking care of their house while they were away for several weeks. I had never been there, but it is fresh fish restaurant. I couldn't believe the amount of people doing pickup. I can't imagine anything worse than ordering fish for takeout. There is no way that meal is anywhere near the quality of the meal that was severed to me in the restaurant.

my favorite wing place same thing. I've been there when the order came out and drove 7 minutes to my house the wings were meh at best because they continued to steam inside the Styrofoam.

and as to how hard the staff works at restaurants, and even more so now because they are ALL short staffed, It makes me Mr Desk Jocky look like jaba the hut. Having worked in a restaurant for several years doing everything from bus boy to line cook and over night prep cook. Those people are working about as hard as anyone doing manual labor. Plus they have to deal with asshole humans, again even more so now. If this is new to any of you, please remember that the next time you go out.

one last anecdote to the "now" situation. My buddy met his dad at a sports bar this weekend while his kid was at a birthday party to watch some football. it was 40 minutes from the time they entered until they were seated and then someone was able to take a drink order. The place was half ful. They were okay with it because the games were on. The waitress apologized immensely and said " We are so short staffed we are taking turns cooking" I hope that industry can find its mojo again, because right now its not a fun place to be...

 

[boston_e]

other than pizza shop fare or maybe even Chinese, take out is terrible. We were given a bonefish grille gift card by our elderly neighbors for taking care of their house while they were away for several weeks. I had never been there, but it is fresh fish restaurant. I couldn't believe the amount of people doing pickup. I can't imagine anything worse than ordering fish for takeout. There is no way that meal is anywhere near the quality of the meal that was severed to me in the restaurant.

my favorite wing place same thing. I've been there when the order came out and drove 7 minutes to my house the wings were meh at best because they continued to steam inside the Styrofoam.

and as to how hard the staff works at restaurants, and even more so now because they are ALL short staffed, It makes me Mr Desk Jocky look like jaba the hut. Having worked in a restaurant for several years doing everything from bus boy to line cook and over night prep cook. Those people are working about as hard as anyone doing manual labor. Plus they have to deal with asshole humans, again even more so now. If this is new to any of you, please remember that the next time you go out.

one last anecdote to the "now" situation. My buddy met his dad at a sports bar this weekend while his kid was at a birthday party to watch some football. it was 40 minutes from the time they entered until they were seated and then someone was able to take a drink order. The place was half ful. They were okay with it because the games were on. The waitress apologized immensely and said " We are so short staffed we are taking turns cooking" I hope that industry can find its mojo again, because right now its not a fun place to be...

One thing for sure - there is an art to the packaging of takeout as well. Compare two takeout places in my town... one just puts fried items like wings / fish n chips / french fries in a closed styrofoam container and it gets kind of soggy as it continues to steam as you describe. The other has some sort of containers with vents built into the top that allows steam to escape, and it isn't styrofoam either... maybe some sort of heavyish duty recycled material.. and they make a point not to stack two items like that on top of each other. I'd say it arrives home 90% as good as when it was fresh onto a plate.

With that said, for sure some menu items work much better for takeout: pizza, sandwiches, some mexican items, wings (when packaged correctly), Chinese all come to mind.

I agree on the "now" situation, when we have gone out I've been making a point of being extra nice to the servers and tipping well.

 

[deadheadskier]

This opinion might be unpopular to restaurant owners, but honestly it has become an overheated and undervalued experience and serious contraction is probably needed for the long term health of the industry and it's workers / wages.

Americans simply have developed unreasonable expectations for cheap and easy prepared food. In 1955, 25 cents of every dollar spent on food was in restaurants. In 2018 that number was 53.5 cents of every dollar. Now there are a lot of factors that go into it. Obviously the biggest one is more two income households today. Families have less free time to cook. But if dining out wasn't so cheap, they'd find the time.

Dining out should be significantly more expensive than what it is. There should be far fewer restaurants and those that work in the industry should be paid significantly better. We are starting to see that today. A bit of a reset. It's painful for the owners losing their businesses due to lack of staffing, but the good ones will still thrive. Survival of the fittest.

 

[boston_e]

This opinion might be unpopular to restaurant owners, but honestly it has become an overheated and undervalued experience and serious contraction is probably needed for the long term health of the industry and it's workers / wages.

Americans simply have developed unreasonable expectations for cheap and easy prepared food. In 1955, 25 cents of every dollar spent on food was in restaurants. In 2018 that number was 53.5 cents of every dollar. Now there are a lot of factors that go into it. Obviously the biggest one is more two income households today. Families have less free time to cook. But if dining out wasn't so cheap, they'd find the time.

Dining out should be significantly more expensive than what it is. There should be far fewer restaurants and those that work in the industry should be paid significantly better. We are starting to see that today. A bit of a reset. It's painful for the owners losing their businesses due to lack of staffing, but the good ones will still thrive. Survival of the fittest.

I do get your point, but I'm not sure I agree that going out to eat is that cheap. It is nothing for my family of 4 to run up a $150+ bill even at just a moderate burgers and nachos "sports pub" type of place. My wife and I went on a "date night" to one of the nicer restaurants in town and our bill was pushing $300 for the two of us. (And it isn't like we were having a lot of drinks in either example).

I don't mind paying a premium on occasion for quality food and service, but the primary reason we are going out less than we did pre-pandemic is we figured out how much money we actually save by eating in more.

 

[jimk]

My wife and I are not avid restaurant people. We haven't sat down to eat inside a restaurant since 14 March 2020. We didn't do any take-out, not even pizza, for the first six months of the pandemic. Instead, we hit the grocery stores hard.

In 2021 we've done a lot of car travel around the Rockies and East Coast. My wife's go-to food on car trips is Chick-fil-A. I like Five Guys better, but Chick-fil-A is ok too. I have eaten in Chick-fil-A's in probably ten states this year. It's incredible how busy they all are! I have to chuckle when we drive past a big strip of retail development somewhere. The local Chick-fil-A will have enormous crowds and the Wendy's or all other nearby fast food joints are empty. And the staffing at Chick-fil-A's is unbelievable too. It's like they have 40 employees just in the parking lot doing drive-through orders or making deliveries with a fleet of delivery vehicles. Chick-fil-A must be some kind of case study on how to adapt and flourish during a paradigm shift in a business operation??

 

[deadheadskier]

I do get your point, but I'm not sure I agree that going out to eat is that cheap. It is nothing for my family of 4 to run up a $150+ bill even at just a moderate burgers and nachos "sports pub" type of place. My wife and I went on a "date night" to one of the nicer restaurants in town and our bill was pushing $300 for the two of us. (And it isn't like we were having a lot of drinks in either example).

I don't mind paying a premium on occasion for quality food and service, but the primary reason we are going out less than we did pre-pandemic is we figured out how much money we actually save by eating in more.

If it isn't cheap, then how are people affording to spend 53.5% of their food budget having someone else cook for them today vs only 25% of their budget in 1955? Much of this I'm sure is driven by the proliferation of fast food over the past 60 years, but a lot of it is Americans are pretty spoiled today. I know my family eats prepared food WAY more than what I experienced as a kid, and I'd say I'm in the same income bracket as what my folks were.

Dining out whether it be at a nice sit down place or a fast food restaurant should be considered a treat and the workers who provide that experience should be provided a good wage. The fact that the many restaurants of the country have been able to pay their staff poverty wages for so long is a problem. The pandemic has shined a light on it and I think it's a good thing.

 

[boston_e]

If it isn't cheap, then how are people affording to spend 53.5% of their food budget having someone else cook for them today vs only 25% of their budget in 1955? Much of this I'm sure is driven by the proliferation of fast food over the past 60 years, but a lot of it is Americans are pretty spoiled today. I know my family eats prepared food WAY more than what I experienced as a kid, and I'd say I'm in the same income bracket as what my folks were.

Dining out whether it be at a nice sit down place or a fast food restaurant should be considered a treat and the workers who provide that experience should be provided a good wage. The fact that the many restaurants of the country have been able to pay their staff poverty wages for so long is a problem. The pandemic has shined a light on it and I think it's a good thing.

Fully agree about workers and a good wage (and I've been an above average tipper for sure - especially since the pandemic).

I don't know about the statistics you cite. Perhaps some of that is driven by takeout (even going to the local house of pizza runs $75ish for a family of 4) and the prepared food number you cite.

I just know that as it relates to my "sports pub" example, I can feed my family a similar meal at home for probably 20% of the cost.

 

[jimmywilson69]

which is part of the reason they can't hire people back now.

I agree in concept that it needs to get more expensive and should. As you've also stated the heard will need to be thinned for that to happen. Folks won't have the appetite to pay 30% or more for "pub" food especially if its marginal like a lot of the chain restaurants. Will people change or will eating out be a major driver in inflation?

 

[KustyTheKlown]

i, for one, am glad to not be dining in a robot factory.

 

[Smellytele]

How to Make an Unloved Job More Attractive? Restaurants Tinker With Wages.

Long before the pandemic persuaded so many restaurant employees to abandon the business, Corrinna Stum chafed at the illogic of the pay. She started as a server at age 15, and quickly discovered how stressful it could be to earn only the federal minimum wage for tipped employees (now $2.13 an...

www.yahoo.com

 

[abc]

You clearly haven't worked at even an Applebee's, nevermind a fine dining restaurant.

I would say sticking to takeout is a wise choice for you given the information you believe above.

Just clueless and quite frankly, massively disrespectful to those who work in the trade.

You're your usual narrow minded, stuck in your own world self.

Your "fine dining experience" better than someone who live in New York City? Yeah, right! LOL

Your experience of "being served" is what you're delusional of and confused with "dining". You show your "respect" by "tipping generously". Yes, I've already described your kind in the last part of my post which you didn't bother to finish reading before you post!

 

[KustyTheKlown]

lol. no. you are def the asshole in this one. don't eat out if you don't respect the hard work of the people cooking and serving the food and maintaining the space.\

a $10 buffet sounds like a good fit for you.

 

[abc]

the heard will need to be thinned for that to happen. Folks won't have the appetite to pay 30% or more for "pub" food especially if its marginal like a lot of the chain restaurants.

It's already happened. A good 20-30% of restaurants closed during the pandemic never reopened. Majority of those are typically the one that doesn't have a niche or weren't doing that great before the pandemic.

 

[abc]

some menu items work much better for takeout: pizza, sandwiches, some mexican items, wings (when packaged correctly), Chinese all come to mind.

All foods continue to cook when enclosed. The reason some type of food works better is largely because the restaurants figured out how to package them correctly.

An example is one of the new-to-me restaurant I only started to patronize since the pandemic on the recommendation of my foodie friends. When I call to order, they gave me an option to choose how the food are package. Some are kept warm, some continue to cook, and some needs reheating. We've figured it out so they all come out just right when we eat it at home!

That said, there're some items they recommend against take out. They simply can't figure out how to package it. (think tempura, a typical Japanese dish). I've been eating in there a few times, before their wait time for tables started to get long again.

Chinese and Mexican restaurants had long ago figured all these out. Other restaurants are now learning it too, I'm happy to report.

 

[cdskier]

I've been to quite a few fine dining restaurants. And I've never had any time in one of them where I thought the staff could be replaced by robots or conveyor belts. To me the wait staff have always ADDED to the experience. Whether it be via recommendations, answering questions, or even just fun conversations, I'd never want that part of the experience removed.

Honestly even in casual local restaurants I wouldn't want the wait staff replaced. They add a personal touch which I enjoy. I could probably count on 1 hand the number of times I've actually had "bad" service in a restaurant. If someone is continually experiencing bad service, maybe they're going to the wrong places...(or have very strange expectations)

 

[Hawk]

All foods continue to cook when enclosed. The reason some type of food works better is largely because the restaurants figured out how to package them correctly.

An example is one of the new-to-me restaurant I only started to patronize since the pandemic on the recommendation of my foodie friends. When I call to order, they gave me an option to choose how the food are package. Some are kept warm, some continue to cook, and some needs reheating. We've figured it out so they all come out just right when we eat it at home!

That said, there're some items they recommend against take out. They simply can't figure out how to package it. (think tempura, a typical Japanese dish). I've been eating in there a few times, before their wait time for tables started to get long again.

Chinese and Mexican restaurants had long ago figured all these out. Other restaurants are now learning it too, I'm happy to report.

ABC, you are totaly a different bird than me. Probably most that are in the +40 crowd. I have to say that I think your view of resturaunt workers and the resturaunt trade will bring you at odds with anyone who ownes or has worked in those circles. It is hard work and people generally suck to deal with. No I will never see it your way but that is not to say you are wrong in your view to some. I do think it is sad that a person can't enjoy fine dining in a resturaunt, in a great setting with friends and stangers.

 

[abc]

I've been to quite a few fine dining restaurants. And I've never had any time in one of them where I thought the staff could be replaced by robots or conveyor belts. To me the wait staff have always ADDED to the experience. Whether it be via recommendations, answering questions, or even just fun conversations, I'd never want that part of the experience removed.

Honestly even in casual local restaurants I wouldn't want the wait staff replaced. They add a personal touch which I enjoy.

So you're "eating out" for the social experience on top of the food. That's your choice. But it isn't about the food any more.

The only wait staff I felt adds significant value to the "dining experience" is the sommelier. But only those who actually knows both the wine and the food served. Some waiters does that with food alone. They're in my opinion serving the function of the sommelier, albeit without the wine.

 

[abc]

I do think it is sad that a person can't enjoy fine dining in a resturaunt, in a great setting with friends and stangers.

I never said I don't enjoy it.

But it's a different purpose. It's not about eating out. It's about socializing in a restaurant, or a pub, or a concert. Or for that matter, on a ski slope.

People are confusing enjoying good food (very good food), with being waited on.

Like it or not, take out can be as good if done right. And it's likely here to stay for many more restaurants. I'm very happy for that.

 

[Hawk]

It's already happened. A good 20-30% of restaurants closed during the pandemic never reopened. Majority of those are typically the one that doesn't have a niche or weren't doing that great before the pandemic.

This is certainly an over generalization. The resturaunts that closed in my town were all very good and very crowded before the pandemic. 2 closed because the lead chef or the owner died of covid. A couple of others chose to close because the rent was high and it did not make sence to hang on with no end in site. I know of at least one that just plain gave up becuase they would not operate under the conditions and requirements set forth by the local government. All the crappy takeout places near me are still open serving the same run of the mill stuff. Uninspired and unimaginative. Blah!

 

[Hawk]

I never said I don't enjoy it.

But it's a different purpose. It's not about eating out. It's about socializing in a restaurant, or a pub, or a concert. Or for that matter, on a ski slope.

People are confusing enjoying good food (very good food), with being waited on.

No I'm not. I say they entwined in a good resturaunt. Good service and good back of the house enhances the meal.