COVID-19 will change how we buy food, forever
COVID-19 will change how we buy food, forever
By Sylvain Charlebois
Professor in Food Distribution and Policy, Dalhousie University
COVID-19 will redefine grocery shopping and food service.
Convenience now has a different meaning. It’s less about saving time and more about survival and safety. Before the crisis, barely anyone ordered online and many Canadians wondered why someone would ever order food in that fashion.
But many things are changing – rapidly.
The in-store shopping experience, for one, is changing quickly to meet the new standards.
Most grocers have reduced shopping hours to give employees a rest and allow stores to be thoroughly cleaned, from counters to carts, cashiers’ machines to self-checkout counters. Plexiglass barriers at checkouts are being installed. Grocery stores are now expected to be as clean as hospital operating rooms. That comes at a cost.
Grocers are also limiting the number of people in stores at any time and getting customers to shop within a limited time. This is shopping under pressure for the betterment of society.
Grocers basically don’t have much of a choice.
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