2021 and all that

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Written by Richard Cornish
Food writer and author, senior contributor of Bidfood’s appetiser. magazine

If you’re anything like most of the people in the business, you won’t want to go through another year like 2021 in a hurry.

For some it was like 2020 repeating itself all over again. For some it was life as usual, but just not able to go anywhere or have anyone come visit. What we did see was some amazing resilience, with businesses being able to learn from last year and put some practices in place. In Melbourne, for example, when lockdowns were called in 2021 some businesses were able to clean up and make contingencies for stock in a matter of hours, whereas last year it took days.

If businesses did have to move to home delivery again, they knew where to get packaging, which partners to connect with and which dishes work best on the road and in the domestic kitchen. It was this resilience, ingenuity and rock-hard dogged determination that manifested itself in loads in 2021. What was truly brilliant to see, was the way that whenever possible, customers did their best (generally) to help people in the business get going. There is a lot of love for our industry that lies with the public. Most were ready to move with the times and do what had to be done to get the industry back on its feet.

While there is no guarantee 2022 is going to be the year, we as an industry want it to be, we know we have the skillset to rapidly change at the drop of a hat. It’s been one hell of a year to say the least. But it has been an honour to be a part of the industry this year and to know that partners, like Bidfood, continue to be here right beside us.