Why corona hit restaurants businesses should and can pick-up...it is about mutual gains.

PHOTOS BY KARI MASON

This was today in Google News' morning edition of the headlines - New York, which is quickly becoming the epicenter for the Corona tragedy has had to shut down nearly all of its restaurant businesses but what is more surprising is that this is happening across the US and job loss emanating from this trend is massive. Closer home, somewhat similar things are happening. While ordering-in the food remains an option, it seems that more and more permanent closures are underway. While a temporary halt in the daily trading does not mean the end of lifecycle for a business, just like the automobile sector, permanent closures mean permanent job losses - this is what is worrying me. These are jobs that can be saved. This is at least what I think, for overseas and for the shrinking food business marketplace in India. Just think of this - with the pandemic scare, all food biz' are required to follow a lot more hygiene and safety norms. In many places, there are licensing and food inspection regulations. 

However, this is not the standard practice across the food serving industry, at least not in India where the best pub might have a couple of cockroaches waiting to surprise you under the table. This is perhaps a good time as any to make this benchmark common, whether you are a five-star hotel or a roadside Dhaba, you will need to comply with more-than-average food hygiene standards. Obviously, the business owners are not going to be very upbeat about this but then, the option is still a lot better than closing shutters. Further, more regulations can be put into place for food ordering, packaging, and delivery, at least until this phase blows over. This means that each restaurant out there will need to upgrade for better food packaging standards and create cleaner cooking ecosystems that are doable with so many advances in food packaging/serving/preservation mediums. Yes, the conventional dining-out experiences are dead for some time, but if people really want to do it, and if they work with the local governments, there might be still a way to deliver a fine evening wining & dining experience at the doorstep - this might create more employment rather than firing the restaurant staff. If you compare this with the current trend of a restaurant business saying that we are closing out forever, this is worth a try at least - let us not kill the jobs that can be saved!