Coca-Cola Pleads For Consumers To Aid Restaurants

Coca-Cola Co KO is pleading for consumers, industry leaders, legislators, and others to "join us" in supporting restaurants.

What Happened: Coca-Cola released results from its internal research on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the restaurant industry. Here are some of the more notable takeaways.

Confidence Levels: Forty-six percent of restaurant owners that Coca-Cola interacted with are "somewhat confident" they will stay in business for the next 12 months. Another 45% are "very confident" while just 9% are "not confident."

However, restaurant owners need some form of financial relief along with clear and consistent standards to remain open. Some of the forms of financial benefits include reduced local, state and federal fees related to operating their business, flexibility in laws to expand alcohol sales, extended tax deferments, among others.

Restaurant owners believe on average that 55% capacity is the minimum threshold required to turn a profit.

See Also: Yelp Says 61% Of Restaurant Closures Are Permanent

A second wave of COVID-19 infections rank as the biggest concern among the restaurant community, followed by supply chain reliability, regaining lost customers, and weakness in the local economy.

"The Coca-Cola Company is committed to helping restaurants weather the storm of COVID-19 and thrive on the other side," said Kathleen Ciaramello, President, Foodservice & On-Premise at The Coca-Cola Company. will continue to seek out opportunities to provide innovative solutions and support as we work alongside restaurateurs to save one of the largest and most resilient industries in the country."

Financial Toll: Restaurants have spent on average $7,400 to adapt their business and 66% of owners think it will take at least six months to recoup the added cost. Meanwhile, 86% of owners made staff reductions.

Some of the initiatives that restaurants are looking to implement to support revenue include do-it-yourself at home meal kits, grocery sales, combined promotional activities with other retailers, and sending a chef to personally cater at-home events for a small number of guests.

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Regaining Customers: According to Coca-Cola's data, a restaurant's health practice is the most important factor driving their desire to return to restaurants. By contrast, the government declaring it safe to return to restaurants ranks last, while the availability of a COVID vaccine is second to last.

Restaurants being forced to collect personal information for contact tracing purposes ranks as the most negative factor among consumers.