With so many restaurants suddenly serving food to-go, the pandemic caused a shortage of products including cardboard boxes, plastic gloves and takeout containers. In Arizona, paper bags have been hard to get and black foam containers are almost impossible to find, one Arizona distributor says.
Prior to COVID-19, takeout orders made up about 4% of sales for national brunch chain Snooze, which has locations in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Gilbert and Tucson. At points during 2020, takeout orders were the only way the restaurant could serve customers.
Sustainability is one of the company's core focuses and Snooze was on track to announce carbon neutrality goals prior to the pandemic, says Senior Brand Manager Becky Fairchild. Instead, the pandemic forced the company to focus mainly on survival.