Business Strategies Employed by Food Service Industries to Survive the Impact of COVID-19

This study explored and described the business strategies of food service industries in Cabanatuan City in the New Normal. The descriptive research design was used in the study. Researcher-made questionnaire was employed to elicit information from 15 food service industries purposively chosen. Analysis of the result indicates that most of the food service industry was a restaurant with the corporation as business owners and was operated over the years. As to the number of employees, they had small number of regular employees and a larger number of casual and contractual employees due to restructuring and transforming their workplaces brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the respondents were impacted by the pandemic in terms of the five indicators used in the study. The finance and cash flows were greatly affected due to a profit decline. The shortage of raw materials due to transportation-related problems impacted their production of products needed by the customers. Likewise, they reduced the employee size due to a loss in sales and profits. Similarly, they innovated their products based on the customers’ needs using local materials. Meanwhile, the respondent’s food service industry can utilize business strategies suited for their operations. On the marketing side, they increased their marketing efforts with social media platforms to reach out to customers and increase online sales. On the other hand, they reassure strict safety and sanitation following existing safety protocols of IATF. Likewise, they strictly observed social distancing at work and ensured reduced operating costs to regain their Business from financial loss. Finally, they responded that the strategies used were helpful in their overall business operations. And as to the outcome of actions and strategies employed, the food service industry was able to catch up with their revenues, raw materials, and total operating costs and sales by more than 10 percent. The current study is limited to the fact that it only used a systematic assessment of food service industry strategies. Future research should focus on the techniques used by food service companies to combat COVID-19 from various perspectives and utilize various methods. This research enlightens researchers on the strategies used by the food service industry and points the way for future research. The study has identified the areas where