Innovation in High-End Food Service During COVID-19 Lockdowns

Abstract

COVID-19 lockdown measures have forced hospitality operators to re-configure their dynamic capabilities through innovating operational practices and pivoting traditional business models. The highend food service sector has undergone a particularly drastic shift 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-19 lockdowns 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.

AI-Generated Content, Creative Freelance Work and Hospitality and Tourism Marketing

“…While the creator economy seems to be experiencing a boom, the hospitality and tourism industries are struggling with labor shortages [10]. Prior research has identified labor shortage as a key driver for automation of tasks in hospitality and tourism organizations [18], whereby businesses employ novel technological innovations to find creative new ways for increasing productivity and serving customers [19]. Overall, the bulk of hospitality and tourism companies in many countries tends to consist of small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which are de facto characterized by tight resources, including human resources.…”

“…On the one hand, new tools mean an abundance of higher quality content, but on the other, an authenticity crisis might follow. In part complementing existing debates over finding the right balance between high-touch and high-tech in hospitality and tourism service contexts [19], using AIgenerated marketing content might offer a point of differentiation as well as influence purchase decisions in unforeseen ways.…”