We are in survival mode: how family-owned small foodservice firms in India responded to the Covid-19 pandemic

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the crisis faced, strategies adopted, barriers for recovery and the future outlook by the operators of family-owned small foodservice business firms in responses to COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded unprecedented challenges, severely disrupted the family-run small foodservice business units and often put them on the brink of closure of business. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology adopted is a qualitative research approach. The data for the research is collected through a semi-structured interview. The data was collected from the 13 family-owned foodservice providers. The data is collected through a semi-structured telephone interview as there is a restriction of travel between different regions. Findings: The finding reveals that small family-operated foodservice firms faced multiple challenges, including threat for existence, the pressure of fixed cost, feeling unethical, financial instability, uncertainty on future and feeling of loss of goodwill with lenders. Originality/value: The current research work is the first to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on small family-owned food services businesses in an Indian context.