March 27, 2020. I was living with my family in a city in central Sweden. About 9 days prior, I had just begun a part-time remote job with an Oslo-based nonprofit.
When I was hired, I was going to be their first (or one of the first) solely remote employees.
By the time I started, their entire staff was remote due to the lockdown that went into effect for Norway on March 12, 2020. So rather than adjust to the realities of remote work as one of their rare remote workers, suddenly it was an entire group experience (and as we know, global as well).
By late March, my kids and I were all really sick (looking back, perhaps we had COVID). We recovered well, but I remember experiencing it as one of the worst illnesses I had.
On March 27, 2020, I snapped this photo on my balcony. I know some folks may only be able to focus on how much plastic there is, and that’s an issue, but not the point of this post.
The husband of the co-owner of my favorite local vegetarian restaurant (with loads of vegan options) had brought a bag of food for me, as I was not able to cook, and to ease the load for my husband as well.
My husband accepted the bag from him, and even in deep illness, I was really delighted by and grateful for all the nutritious and delicious dishes and thoughtfulness of these restaurant owners, who, through the pandemic, would have to pivot to such a changed landscape of dining as though Sweden had no lockdown, there were radical changes on the ground.
In our community, for example, business for local eateries and cafes dropped off drastically, as even without lockdown, people stopped going out (as there were also many physical distancing restrictions).
Earlier this year, I started a pilot interview series for a project on ‘Pandemic Insights’ that I plan to take to a larger scale after my current final year in PhD program.
In several of the interviews, creative (and essential) pivots for business ideas by restaurants have cropped up as noteworthy memories. In two of my most recent interviews, Laura Hotvet in Excelsior, Minnesota shared about a famed local lakeside restaurant’s shift to year-round outdoor dining that was well-received and great for the community and Germantown, Philadelphia-based Mason Carter (of https://blendinicity.com/) reflected on the phenomenon of ‘streeteries’ that took off during that time that have since faded with restaurants facing more restrictions to implement.
As for this restaurant, whose owners thoughtfully sent me this ‘Food Care Package’- they also pivoted during the pandemic. With barely any customers coming in to dine, they moved towards a weekly food meal kit delivery and pick up service, where you could get the ingredients and materials for several meals per week in one weekly package. I thought it was a brilliant pivot that many other restaurants in other cities and other countries also shifted to as well.
Read more about the Pandemic Insights project below: