Coronavirus: Industry Impact 2021

Supermarket, Grocery, & C-Store

• Hy-Vee Inc. announced all its pharmacy locations now offer free COVID-19 vaccines with no appointment necessary.

• The Kroger Co. is partnering with Drone Express to pilot grocery delivery via autonomous drones.

Retail

• Rite Aid Corporation now announced it is administering COVID-19 vaccinations at all of its stores.

• Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. announced that it has launched contactless delivery in under two hours nationwide.

• Walmart Stores Inc. is now administering COVID-19 vaccines on a walk-in basis as well as pre-scheduled appointments at more than 5,100 Walmart’s and Sam’s Club pharmacy locations.

Restaurant

• Bloomin’ Brands Inc. has claimed that their decision to retain staff during the pandemic has allowed them to avid the labor shortage that is affecting the restaurant industry.

• Dog Haus International LLC has partnered with CloudKitchens to open two new virtual locations in Oakland and San Francisco. The company is also teaming with Colony to open a virtual kitchen in Santa Monica.

• KFC Corporation is attempting to keep up with increasing demand by hiring 20,000 permanent employees.

• Ledo Pizza will be hiring 1,000 employees to deal with the shortage of workers troubling the restaurant industry.

• McDonald’s Corporation is looking to hire 3,000 employees among the labor shortage. Some locations are offering to pay people just for showing up to interviews.

• Texas Roadhouse has increased their prices and extended operating hours after seeing an increase in daily customers.