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The impact of COVID‐19 on food retail and food service in Canada: A second assessment
Author(s) -
Goddard Ellen
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
canadian journal of agricultural economics/revue canadienne d'agroeconomie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.505
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1744-7976
pISSN - 0008-3976
DOI - 10.1111/cjag.12282
Subject(s) - restructuring , covid-19 , business , unemployment , food service , service (business) , food insecurity , food security , marketing , economics , economic growth , finance , geography , agriculture , medicine , virology , outbreak , archaeology , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
COVID‐19 continues to impose a series of unique challenges on the food retail and food service sectors in Canada. In May 2020, the expectation was that the public health crisis shutdowns of the restaurant sector would be temporary. Although we may still be in a much longer temporary than was originally envisaged, it is becoming clearer that permanent restructuring may also have happened. Grocery stores have solidified their changed realities through an increased focus on multiple channel retailing rather than a complete choice between either bricks and mortar or online. Increased costs, resulting from the pandemic, are continuing to filter through the food system and we have a growing problem with food security for some Canadians given that employment in January 2021 was found to be at its lowest level since August 2020. Unemployment moves directly with lockdowns that are varied across the country.