Will COVID 19 change the food industry, forever? That's the title of a piece written by Dr. Sylvain Charlebois of Dalhousie University this month, as the pandemic continues.
He believes the pandemic will redefine grocery shopping in more ways than one. Dr. Charlebois says another industry that could face some difficult choices in the months ahead, is the restaurant industry.
"We've never seen something like this. Overnight, an entire sector was just shut down, essentially. If you don't do take out or delivery, you are out of business for a while or you could be out of business for good," remarked Dr. Charlebois.
According to Dr. Charlebois calculations the food service industry is a 90 billion dollar industry in Canada and with 6 to 7 billion accounting for the take out and delivery business. That leaves approximately 83 billion remaining with approximately half of that being food that will go to grocers instead of restaurants.
"We are expecting a bit of a price war on the other side of this pandemic and are expecting the new prices to soften by the end of 2020," commented Dr. Charlebois.
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