How does the COVID-19 outbreak affect the food and beverage industry in Turkey? Proposal of a holistic model

Abstract

ABSTRACT The current study aims to identify the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on the food and beverage industry in Turkey, to reveal what sort of precautions these firms have taken and to explore which applications they have adopted to overcome the effects in question. This study adopted a two-stage qualitative research design. In the first stage, online documents in Turkish were reviewed and in the second stage, online interview videos were analyzed. A total of 76 documents and 17 videos were examined using content analysis. According to the findings of the current study, the effects of COVID-19 on food and beverage firms were classified under 8 main categories and 30 sub-categories as follows: operational survival activities; challenges encountered; employee problems; cooperation, support, and incentives; precautions and practices; social responsibility; control; and customer behaviors. Then, a holistic model was proposed, consisting of the relevant main categories and containing a three-phase process (the onset of the outbreak, the active period, and the normalization process). This study is one of the first attempts to determine the effects of the pandemic on food and beverage firms through the eyes of the relevant stakeholders and address them as a whole. Moreover, it provides a significant contribution to the literature to find out the effects of the pandemic as well as other crises on the food and beverage industry.