Omicron Vs the Food Industry

The ever-rising cases of the Omicron Variant of the COVID-19 virus has brought back horrid memories of the bitter aftertaste the previous lockdown left to business owners around the nation. With the trend of increasing cases mimicking the first peak of the virus, the economy of the nation braces for yet another probable lockdown and the storm that comes with it.

One industry severely impacted by “lockdowns” per se is the hospitality and food industry who mostly rely on the influx of customers to generate any cash flow. Despite adopting various COVID protocols and implementing serious hygiene regulations in their premises, the restaurants shutting down yet again during the lockdown would prove to be severely detrimental to these businesses staying afloat.

Mostly in the red, sluggishly recovering during these Post-lockdown times, these restaurants need to keep the doors revolving every day of they are to recover their pre-covid status and projections.

“The loss of business and the damages it did to the cashflow was significant”, says a spokesperson from Fire & Ice Pizzeria in Thamel. “However we still have takeaways and deliveries available, therefore we will still have means of doing business with our faithful if the government implements smart lockdown if they do again decide to take the drastic measure.'' adds the spokesperson.

Similar to Fire & Ice, many restaurants seem to be devising lockdown plans just in case. Takeaways, home deliveries under the premise of Smart Lockdowns seem to be the way to go for most businesses. Himalaya Java too expects to bring focus onto their takeaways, “We’re slowly making a niche in the market, people who buy our coffee continued to do so during the first lockdown and we hope the same if it happens again. We are bringing a lot more focus to takeaways and deliveries, also introducing “Bring your own tumbler” options to the customers making the takeaway process easier and a lot more eco-friendly!” says the Branding Officer at Himalayan Java.

Some restaurants seem cautiously confident in their daily customers in keeping their business going. “We’ve taken all the necessary precautions and followed every COVID protocol the book and some more, thus we remain optimistic about our future and the customers who love our service and return regularly.'', states the hopeful marketing-rep at Roadhouse Cafe Thamel.

Similarly the Marketing Representatives at LeSherpa also remain optimistic on their future, “We serve a very niche audience who come back for our food, we’ve as every restaurant has done have taken the utmost care and concern with upholding the COVID protocols, we’ve branched out to takeaways too and also have a sister company that delivers local vegetables and goods so we have plans incase the worst does happen.”