Posted on Thursday, 16th July, 2020
The national campaign #EatAloneTogether which was launched by Restaurant and Catering Association (R&CA) in partnership with Entertainment and Unilever Food Solutions (UFS), has evolved into #TakeawayTuesday.
The #EatAloneTogether movement was originally launched in March to support restaurants during the height of COVID-19 restrictions. As part of the campaign, R&CA and UFS declared Tuesday, 19 May as National Takeaway Day which gathered support from thousands of restaurants who promoted the campaign to their communities and encouraged customers to support their local restaurants and cafés by ordering takeaway.
To help the hospitality industry supplement their reduced dine-in business, and grow demand for takeaway and delivery, R&CA and UFS have evolved #EatAloneTogether into #TakeawayTuesday – encouraging all Australians to place an order every Tuesday in support of local restaurants and casual dining.
#TakeawayTuesday will kick off on 21 July and thereafter every Tuesday, while restaurants across the country are experiencing reduced dine in volumes, NSW has implemented new restrictions to better manage their patron numbers. Melbourne is forced into a 6-week lockdown as of 8 July. It’s therefore especially important for the community to support their local in these tough times. In the lead up, R&CA, UFS and Entertainment will be building awareness of the day and encouraging the public to order takeaway, pick up or delivery from their favourite local and hashtag them to show support.
In March, data from Food Industry Foresight indicated that 100% of restaurant and café businesses surveyed had moved to takeaway as a result of COVID-19 and 57% had moved to introduce delivery as a result of COVID-19.
There is no doubt that takeaway and delivery will continue to be critical to keeping them in business for some time with Food Industry Foresight1 now reporting that 95% of businesses surveyed will keep using takeaway as a revenue stream into the future and 68% will continue using delivery (either through a third party or via self-delivery) into the future.
According to Angela Ritchie, Senior Marketing Executive for National chain Jamaica Blue, the biggest challenge has been pivoting to delivery. “It is an avenue we would like to service as it ’s just an extension of takeaway and grows sales without impacting the customers in our cafés”.
“People built new habits and discovered things they may otherwise not have done,” says Ritchie.
“Takeaway has been a saving grace for many businesses and it will continue to be a critical revenue stream for restaurants to make up for the loss of the dining-in revenue due to restrictions.” Mr Lambert concluded, “If our favourite restaurants are to survive this crisis, it is critical that we continue to help our restaurants survive and rebuild their business”. “We need all Australians to get behind #TakeawayTuesday – whether that is helping to promote it or by ordering takeaway so our restaurants and chefs can keep their businesses in business”.
Takeaway is especially critical for Melbourne where pubs, cafes and restaurants have once again closed their doors and will only be allowed to serve food for takeaway, pick up or delivery. Surviving the second lockdown will be even more challenging to the already struggling hospitality industry.
More partners are coming on-board to show their support of the casual dining industry and this will help to drive awareness of #TakeawayTuesday. Key, delivery and technology platforms UberEats, Menulog, Deliveroo, Bopple, 13Things and The Fork, plus a wide range of industry service providers including AMEX, Barcats, Deputy, Make-it-Cheaper, Hostplus and food service provider Australian Pork, as well as key media personalities are all keen to promote #TakeawayTuesday and to keep momentum behind the movement.
About Unilever Food Solutions:
Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) is the dedicated foodservice business of Unilever, providing high-quality professional food ingredients and services created by chefs, for chefs. unileverfoodsolutions.com.au
About Entertainment:
Entertainment drives new business and revenue growth for our partners through word of mouth and exclusive marketing programs. Our affluent and closed member base contribute more than $500 million annually to our partner’s bottom lines.
*Disclaimer:
R&CA, Unilever Food Solutions and all associated chain accounts support the Federal Government's guidance around social distancing, and we advise all Australians to follow the rules on essential gatherings set out by the Department of Health and specific to their State. For more information see: https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/how-to- protect-yourself-and-others-from-coronavirus-covid-19/limits-on-public-gatherings-for-coronavirus-covid- 19.
1. Food Industry Foresight Covid-19 Foodservice Bulletin N4
