Last month’s FROSTlines article looked at how food retailers were rapidly adapting to changes brought about by the pandemic. This included accommodating customers who wanted to place their orders online and either pick them up in person — called click-and-collect — or else have those orders delivered to their homes. In either case, stores had to quickly add refrigerated staging areas that could be used to hold the increasing number of online orders that were being placed.
As the pandemic lingers, changes will continue to affect all parts of the cold chain, from food retailers to distribution warehouses. This will give every part of the grocery sector the opportunity to be innovative and perhaps try new technologies that, to date, they have only thought about implementing.