Loss Control Gains Weight For Restoration With Covid

The shrinkage control gains prominence for restaurants in the pospandemia was . A report carried out by the consulting firm Kantar based on the opinion of 1,200 chefs from 20 countries confirms that the COVID crisis is causing financial problems for eight out of 10 restaurants and that two are the fundamental ways to face the current crisis, the improvement of the control of losses or waste and the promotion of delivery services or home delivery, and the preparation of ready-to-go menus.

The strengthening of take-out services in supermarkets forces restaurants to provide equivalent services so as not to lose market share in a definitive way after 2020 that benefited distribution chains compared to food outside the home.

The study, carried out for the multinational Unilever, highlights that new services such as ‘take away’ will continue to be present after the pandemic, since 44% of Spanish operators want to maintain this service in their businesses.

The study data have encouraged the multinational Unilever to make tools available to its customers. According to this multinational, “cost management is essential when facing the future of restaurants”, which is why it has designed free online tools to control business management.

“Proper management of scandals, menu engineering design or waste control are essential for a business to move forward,” said Peio Cruz, executive chef of Unilever Food Solutions in Spain. Faced with the importance of tackling food waste, Unilever promotes Stopmermas.com, “which helps to alleviate the economic effects of food waste in professional kitchens based on a diagnosis”.

According to calculations made by this company, the best control of waste allows an annual saving of about 3,000 euros for an average restaurant.

The Unilever report ensures that the situation of Spanish restaurants has improved compared to last year. Last spring, only 12% of professional kitchens in Spain were closed, while at an international level the paralysis of restoration reached a quarter of businesses. The Spanish restaurant sector faces the reopening with optimism, but financial problems imply the importance of controlling costs.

The Unilever Food Solutions study presented these days shows that 82% of Spanish professionals admit that their businesses are experiencing financial difficulties, above 74% globally and in line with restaurateurs from neighboring countries such as France and Italy, with the 84% in both cases. In April, 88% of Spanish restaurants were open,

The study indicates that in Spain 44% of professionals will maintain services such as ready-to-go to boost their businesses from now on, and 36% will do the same with delivery. The report also shows how this spring Spain has been the European country in which the restaurant business has done the best, according to the opinion of its professionals; 47% said in April that they were doing better or much better, compared to the previous month, well above the world average (16%) and the rest of European countries.

In addition, 90% of them affirm that they continue working in the same position as a year ago. Innovation continues to be essential to attract diners, both with new recipes and formulas that allow restaurants to adapt to delivery and take away services.

Unilever Food Solutions provides products and services created by and for chefs. It operates in 68 countries and has more than 4,700 employees, of which 230 are chefs. In Spain, it has more than 200 references such as Knorr, Maizena, Hellmann’s, Lipton, Carte d’Or, The Vegetarian Butcher, Hellmann’s vegan, the Super Salads of Quinoa or Bulgur from Knorr, the Casual Food Special Sauces from Hellmann’s, the Range Asian Knorr (Teriyaki, Red Curry, Coconut Milk, Sweet Chili Sauce).