Why is UK’s takeaway sector taking a hit in 2020 and how can wholesale food distributors help?

Earlier this year, Wholesaler Food Distributors saw that their customers i.e. the UK’s restaurant takeaway sector was booming with food deliveries amounting to major revenue streams for the catering industry. Many people were ordering from restaurants online and even more dine-ins. There was a significant increase in to-go-meals and major delivery businesses were profiting from that. 

What happened? 

The Pandemic happened. 

Businesses are shutting down and there is a global lockdown in place restricting people to their homes. Businesses everywhere are sending their employees back home. The only places that are still open are hospitals, grocery stores and police stations and the like. There has been recent government instruction that urges takeaways to re-open as a means to cater to food shortage caused by the mass stockpiling. But restaurants and takeaways struggle to re-open due to financial strains and shortage of supplies.

Here is how restaurants and takeaway businesses can get back on track.

Deliveries

The pandemic may have led to restaurants becoming ghost town but that doesn't mean that people have lost that appetites. A lot of people want to have food delivered to their place because they either did not stockpile enough groceries to last them for more than a month or because they simply aren’t the best cooks themselves and would like to have Indian food now and then. The UK economy depends on the catering industry because of how profitable it used to be. Food businesses are still as essential as they used to be but the focus now has to be on deliveries so that customers don’t have to leave the house. The best way is to remodel business strategies and make the most out of the pandemic to grow an online presence, provide discounts and loyalty programs to customers to encourage them to order and help bring businesses back on track.

Inventory and supplies

As of a few months ago, buying supplies in bulk was a regular practice and it allowed catering businesses to function smoothly and avoid losing a customer by always having the ingredient like spices, meat, different types of Cheese and dishes readily available. There are although a lot off restaurants that are facing a financial crisis now because the inventory they purchased will go to waste if they don’t get the customers they planned for and bought stock in bulk to accommodate orders. The best strategy is to get in touch with grocery stores, independent buyers and food banks to either sell the stock before it goes bad or to donate to the needy. This would not only allow your business to fend off the loss, but it would also help serve the community and improve business image.

Suppliers

Moving forward the best thing a restaurant or takeaway business can do is to keep entertaining orders though deliveries and purchasing stock more efficiently. Getting in touch with frozen food suppliers is a great way to ensure that the supplies you buy don’t go bad and result in yet another loss for the business. You can also negotiate prices and additional services with them to improve your financial position as a business and they would love to help as it would also improve their business by having a satisfied customer during uncertain times such as this.