While the top lines of many brands are booming, largely in part to pent up demand, managing the bottom line has been an increasing challenge. Because of COVID-19, our supply chain has been disrupted, many restaurants’ profits plummeted, and we’ve been facing stressful staffing shortages. We’ve had to adapt to new COVID-related protocols and amplify our cleaning and sanitation efforts. We’re wearing masks, social distancing, limiting capacity, and packaging many more “to go” orders. When our traditional on-site auditing paused due to travel restrictions and other pandemic-related regulations, we figured out new ways to conduct inspections. In short, we’ve navigated nearly two years of COVID-related changes, and we’re hoping things will improve dramatically for our industry in the new year.
While the COVID pandemic showed us that we can’t always anticipate what’s coming next, I’ve been studying the trends and I think better days are ahead. My predictions for 2022 include: