FOOD SECTOR SERVES UP SUCCESS STORY

摘要

The most successful pivot and biggest resilience story in the U.S. supply chain during COVID-19 is in the food sector. In the spring of 2020 there was an unprecedented pivot in manufacturing, distribution, and retail from the restaurant to the grocery retail endpoints. (The air transport industry is another major success story.) Depending on whether a company primarily serviced the restaurant or grocery sectors, it either had to absorb 90%+ declines or 100%+ increases in volume in the span of a month, then pivot to realign customers with suppliers, including renegotiating freight and contracts. In the fresh produce picking and meat processing operations, adversity was even greater due to the compounding effects of outbreaks among workers and health-related shutdowns. Despite this, we have seen relatively few food sector bankruptcies (yet) and people have been fed, with relatively little increase in cost or availability to the consumer.