The Pandemic Has Created Small Town Tragedies Up and Down the Supply Chain

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the foodservice industry upside down. From distributors to operators, the impact is felt everywhere: shuttered restaurants, empty streets, vacant parks and playgrounds and piles of empty Amazon boxes out for curbside recycling. And while virtually every individual and business is impacted, the foodservice sector is hit especially hard, with an estimated more 6 to 8 million foodservice workers now unemployed.

While empty restaurants themselves are the visible reminder, the impacts to people and...