Today, we’ll try something a little different: A rundown of COVID-19 related News Oddities, all related in some way to food and nutrition. The more I read my online sources and the daily papers, the more I am convinced that no aspect of our lives is more heavily impacted by the pandemic than eating…
Belgian Fries with Mayo: The real deal. And Belgian Potato growers are pleading
with their countrymen and women to double their consumption of
the national treat to help use up a huge backlog of Spuds…
Loblaw’s sees huge revenue spike
Canada’s largest grocer, Loblaw’s, has reported a mammoth revenue increase of (C)$751 million over the first quarter of 2020. The company says the spike came in the first two weeks after the pandemic lock down was instituted, and many restaurants closed completely while others scaled back to take-out or delivery service only. Millions of Canadians were resorting to homer cooking to feed themselves and their families.
“As it turned out, [the first quarter] was a tale of 14 days, when the government offered their pandemic warning and suggested Canadians prepare for a long stretch at home,” Loblaw’s President Sarah Davis said during a conference cal yesterday. “In a matter of days, customers counts and basket size spiked fourfold. Sales of paper [goods], frozen [foods] and Meat products skyrocketed, e-commerce traffic tripled, restaurants closed and our prepared meal business and recipe making categories took off. Pharmacies were lined [up] with patients filling prescriptions seeking health essentials and advice.”
The chain recorded a 10.8 percent increase in sales overall in January, February and March.
At the same time, food is going to waste
At a time when retail supermarkets can’t get enough of some food items, wholesale food producers who serve the restaurant sector are stuck with tons and tons of food they can’t sell. There’s nothing wrong with the food – it’s just packaged in sizes and formats commercial kitchens use, not smaller home-sized portions.
One major supplier of restaurant food products, Sysco Canada, is offering its wares directly to the public in an attempt to level the supply-and-demand playing field. That company’s retail effort is called Sysco@HOME and requires you to order online for pickup at your nearest Sysco warehouse ‘store’. Sounds like a great idea, but you have to be prepared to pay for and store food and related products in commercial sized packages and case lots.
Belgium makes an official ‘request’
French Fries are actually a Belgian invention, and Belgians are among the largest consumers of what they call Pommes Frites in the world. Now, with 750,000 tonnes of spuds originally destined for restaurants sitting in warehouses, The Brussells Times says the national Potato growers association, Belgapom this week made a request (more like a plea) to patriotic citizens to double their consumption of Frites in order to reduce the overabundance. The alternative is to plough the overstock under – a waste no one wants to see.
On another tack… Belgians don’t take their Frites with Gravy or Cheese Sauce the way millions of other Fry lovers around the world do. The original Belgian accompaniment has always been Mayonnaise. I’m waiting to see whether Mayo sales double in Belgium along with the devoutly-wished-for increase in Potato consumption.
Costco doubles down on pandemic security
The retail giant (yes, it is retail, regardless of what it calls itself) has decreed that all customers don masks before entering its premises. Sounds like a sensible precaution if they’re letting in lots of customers at a time rather than following strict social distancing rules. But I wonder how that effects their restaurant sales? You’d have to take your mask off to eat…
Meanwhile, Costco has also said it will accept no returns of any goods bought during then pandemic lock down. Seems the powers that be haven’t heard that the COVID-19 virus doesn’t survive long outside a warm, moist cough or sneeze moisture particle. But I suppose the lawyers insisted on the measure to limit the chain’s potential liability.
You can go to Waffle House again in Georgia and Tennessee
Waffle House locations in Georgia and Tennessee are cautiously reopening after the governors of those two states announced an easing of COVID-19 lock down rules. Some 330 Waffle House restaurants in Georgia and 70 in Tennessee that had been open for take-out only reopened for dine-in service on April 27. But the atmosphere will be somewhat different from the cozy, laid-back style you’ve come to expect.
Among new precautions against the spread of COVID-19, the chain is closing off some booths and counter stools to encourage social distancing, the familiar plastic place-mat menus are no longer automatically placed on tables, and employees will be wearing masks. Staff at the reopening locations will also be implementing enhanced cleaning and sanitation measures and determining how many customers they’ll allow in the restaurant at the same time.
According to an article in Bloomberg Business News earlier this week, it appears that customers were not flooding back to reopened restaurants, wary of catching the coronavirus in spite of new sanitary and social distancing measures. Waffle House Head Office spokesperson Njeri Boss told Business Insider, “We always have a contingency plan. We’re just going to have to adapt as we see whether customers return or not.”
Waffle House sales dropped by an average of more than 70 percent within days of the start of the pandemic lock down and the number of employees still working dropped to around 12,000 from the usual 40,000 across the 700-store chain.
I wonder how this effects the infamous Waffle House Disaster Index?
Now you know everything…
… That’s odd or remarkable in the COVIOD-10 newsfile. You may continue with your usual routine safe in the knowledge that you are among the best-informed Foodies on the planet…
~ Maggie J.