COVID-19 AND ITS IMPACT ON THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS

Abstract

COVID-19 impacts the national and international food industry as the government closes down restaurants and bars to slow down the spread of the disease. The restaurant business bears an important role in the economic stabilization of every country. The study was carried out to examine the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on restaurants and other allied businesses. This study was mainly focused on the owners of the restaurant business in the Idukki district. This study attempts to explore the impact of the lockdown restrictions on the restaurant enterprises in the Idukki district. This study describes the challenges of restaurants during the pandemic, strategies adopted by the owners, customer satisfaction with the restaurant services, and customers' perceptions about the development of the restaurant business in the future. The study describes and analyses the nature of the restaurant business. The selected sample was located in Idukki district, Kerala, India. The research found that during the outbreak the restaurants were highly used technologies as their strategies by considering the customer's opinions. Most of the restaurants widely provided online ordering services and home delivery services and that led to the development of the restaurant industry in the Idukki district. Customers get their orders as per their preferences; which helps the restaurants to retain their customers during the pandemic period.   

Keywords: COVID-19, Restaurant business, Challenges, Strategies, Customer satisfaction, and Entrepreneur's perception.