Innovation in High-End Food Service During COVID-19 Lockdowns
Tuomi, Aarni; Ashton, Mark; Ellonen, Hanna-Kaisa; Tussyadiah, Iis (2022)
Tuomi, Aarni
Ashton, Mark
Ellonen, Hanna-Kaisa
Tussyadiah, Iis
University of Hawaii at Manoa
2022
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe202201132136
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe202201132136
Tiivistelmä
COVID-19 lockdown measures have forced hospitality operators to re-configure their dynamic capabilities through innovating operational practices and pivoting traditional business models. The high-end food service sector has undergone a particularly drasticshift towards a new normal. This qualitative study explores factors facilitating innovation at 16 high-end food service organizations in Finland and the UK through semi-structured expert interviews. Three key themes facilitating innovation during COVID-19lockdowns are identified: 1) Combining high-tech and high-touch through new ways of producing and providing technology-driven service offerings, 2) Prosocial engagement, i.e. working together with multiple stakeholders to bring added value to all parties,not just the business, and 3) Reactivity, i.e. pushing the traditional boundaries of the sector through quick decision-making and constant iteration and refining of processes and procedures. Drawing our empirical findings together, innovation during COVID-19 lockdowns in high-end food service is conceptualized into three phases: React, Refine, and Reflect.