Current Research

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainty regarding future sales is at a historical high for the restaurant business (Haas, Kuehl, Moran & Venkataraman, 2020). Consequently, owners and managers are under tremendous pressure to make critical decisions, often to merely survive. With these unprecedented challenges, future circumstances are extremely uncertain, and we are to provide them with financial planning models to help restaurant owners and managers navigate and prepare for their uncertain financial future better (Yunker & Yunker, 2003). The model presented here is excel sheet-based which is easy to use following seven steps, especially for small and medium sized restaurants and foodservice businesses to estimate and plan their profit and cash flows during the COVID-19 crisis. This model will be important to ensure the restaurant businesses to be more effectively able to plan their operations during and post COVID-19.

The tool can be downloaded for free at this link.

Overview
Do individuals have access to food during the current COVID-19 crisis? The current crisis  provides a unique (albeit unfortunate) circumstances to investigate how risk, uncertainty, and preparedness of individuals and communities impact food access. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the current COVID-19 pandemic is impacting food access and food security. Furthermore, this study also highlights factors that will reassure consumers of the uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Our study will contribute to an understanding of these issues in the midst of such an event to help communities respond to food access needs, and also to more reliably assess revival of consumer demand post this crisis.

Suggested Citation:  Sharma, Amit, Yu, Chandler, Lin, Michael, & Jung, InHaeng. (2020). Food Access and Insecurity During COVID-19: Evidence from US During April and May 2020. ScholarSphere. 
Read more:
https://scholarsphere.psu.edu/concern/generic_works/44j03d023j [Alternative Link]

Introduction

The current global pandemic caused by COVID-19 continues to have devastating impacts on the hospitality industry as the largest sector of travel and tourism. No segment of this industry has been spared from the dramatic consequences. Transportation, leisure, and entertainment (most vividly, sports, cruising, and gaming), as well as lodging and food service business (most visibly, small and independent restaurants), and the global meetings segment (from small social events such as weddings to mega-events such as the Olympics) all are in peril and struggling to survive. In response to this, governments around the world are stepping in to assist in the recovery efforts.
The research faculty at Penn State’s School of Hospitality Management has used some of its greatest strengths and resources to empirically understand the industry’s path moving forward, beginning with a look at the past. The objective of this literature review is to yield insight from prior research to assist the responses of hospitality practitioners during the COVID-19 global crisis. By analyzing previous scholarly works of other researchers who have applied the scientific methods of academic inquiry to modern crisis responses, we have identified relevant recommendations and situational responses that will be helpful for hospitality operators in the current socio-economic climate.
These studies are categorized into three kinds of crises: 1) date-specific disruptions; 2) economic shocks; and finally, 3) health-related interruptions. Each study is presented in an annotated bibliographic format with an interpreted abstract derived from the source publication, each a peer-reviewed journal, and includes a synopsis of managerial implications as a way to develop some of the actionable take-aways for practitioners. Lastly, this literature review ends with the summation of collective insights that distills suggestions on moving forward.

Suggested Citation:
Quadri-Felitti, Donna L, & Luo, Anqi. (2020, May 21). PSU SHM Modern Crisis Responses 2020. ScholarSphere. Read more:  https://scholarsphere.psu.edu/concern/generic_works/4xg94hn597 [Alternative Link]