On Wednesday, the virtual occasion of PMA Foodservice Delivered included two general consultations. The time of the consultation of the day brought a foreign attitude and featured a panel led by LDC AU-NZ CEO Darren Keating. The panel included Steve Kent, general manager of fresh and processed produce at Bidfood Limited, Michael Simonetta, CEO of Perfection Fresh Australia, and Gary Loh, founder and president of Dimuto PTE Ltd. The verbal exchange aimed at the effect of COVID -19 pandemic on the restaurant industry at the respective panelists’ sites: New Zealand, Australia and Singapore.
Right: Darren Keating.
New Zealand: The full blockade is starting to rise Unlike many other countries, New Zealand has entered a general blockade. “The closure started on March 21 and we had about two days to prepare,” says Steve Kent. “Although we were able to continue our activities as a core business, our call largely stopped due to the closure of the restaurant industry.
Bidfood used the locking moment to prepare for what would happen after the blockade, Kent said. “We were in the process of figuring out what the landscape would look like when we left the lockdown and talking to consumers so they’re waiting for what their wishes would be after the blockade ended. Then we start running to prepare our corporate so that we can just this new source chain. When the blockade began to rise, we were pleasantly surprised. New Zealand’s place to eat sometimes depends heavily on tourism, which is not yet present. But overall, other people have shown that they are willing to their local businesses and that they are also willing to eat foods that are not cooked by themselves at home. I’d say the place to eat has been very resilient,” kent says.
“We have noticed a wonderful sense of network emerging from the pandemic, as well as a significant effort for local production in all sorts of industries here in New Zealand,” Kent adds. “I hope this is something that continues to thrive as we move towards the other side of the pandemic.”
Australia: the overall effect has not been as severe as expected Like New Zealand, Australia is beginning to recover from its blockade and reduce restrictions, with the exception of Victoria, where restrictions have recently tightened. The effect on the fruit and vegetable industry has not been as severe as expected, Simonetta says. “There are some products that were surely filled overnight due to the closure of the food service: bath salads, avocados and the new newly cut apartment: the new cut fruit and ready-to-cook vegetables were reduced by 70-80% overnight. But there were also other high-end products in which we were involved, such as brocolini, for example, which will almost certainly be diverted to retail.
Restaurants and other restaurants have also changed. “Almost overnight, we saw that restaurants replaced takeaway and delivery. There was also a massive accumulation of boxes of products aimed directly at consumers throughout the country, i.e. through secondary wholesalers. So I would say that the overall impact, with the exception of some products, was not as serious as we thought in March. The search for customer convenience knows no limits and, although this search is a little interrupted for the time being, it will resume shortly,” Simonetta says.
Singapore: Low- and high-level institutions thrive, while Singapore’s mid-level struggles were one of the first regions to spread COVID-19. Gary Loh explains how the stage was controlled and how the restaurant industry was affected. “Everyone started running from home and the restaurants closed their doors. About a month ago, things started to reopen, except for some areas,” he says. “What we’re seeing now is that food centers and open markets are very popular. These are places where other people can buy food without problems to take with them. We also find that all the high-end places to eat are absolutely full, and even get a reservation for those places to eat is difficult, the intermediate institutions, on the other hand, stay a little and have more difficulties.
A big replacement that Loh has noticed in the Singapore market is that consumers are much more careful. “In Singapore, most products are imported, and before that there was this false sense of security that other people had; they didn’t care much about the protection of these imported foods. That sense of security has now disappeared and other people are gone. much more cautious about the origin of their food. Another thing that is higher and similar to this same challenge is the call for product traceability. Customers are increasingly committed to this requirement”.
Another vital replacement in the Asian market in general is the incorporation of new suppliers, says Loh. “Many importers needed to locate new suppliers to fill the gaps in their stocks, and we saw that Latin American and African manufacturers were increasing. Now we see, for example, a lot of Colombian and Kenyan lawyers on the market, which was not even planned through importers,” he concludes.
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