Business fashions change. Sometimes these changes are caused by completely unexpected happenings. One such was the rise of the fast food delivery driver.

In 2020 the Corona Virus epidemic struck' The country went into lockdown. Businesses were forced to shut, including many shops. Supermarkets were able to stay open; after all we all have to eat; but cafes, restaurants and take-outs were obliged to close; unless they delivered food only, whilst barring customers from collecting food themselves.

This was essential. Many people were housebound, particularly older ones; hot food delivered to their door was a real lifesaver. It was a financial lifesaver too; soon not only fast food outlets were soon advertising their meals online and fleets of delivery drivers on cars, scooters, mopeds and even pushbikes were soon feeding the nation (well part of it anyway!)!

A big problem soon arose though. Delivery drivers were obliged to take out insurance policies designed for delivering food, and these were expensive. Most businesses that were distributing food made the drivers, many of whom were youngsters (in other words faced with high insurance charges already!) pay for it themselves. But then this is the way the gig economy works; it could be called exploitation, but the majority of delivery drivers accepted the situation.

This was not really a good situation for restaurants however. The profit margin on food itself wasn't high and the extra costs that the delivery companies imposed made margins very tight indeed. A customer sat in their restaurant would probably spend more on drinks than on food; and markups were high so the profits on these were the factor that kept them viable. After the epidemic subsided a sizeable number of people who would once have gone to a restaurant regularly ate the same food at home instead; after all why pay £30 for a bottle of wine if they were on offer at the local supermarket for £9.50?

the restaurant trade was faltering before Covid. During and after the epidemic it went into freefall. When - indeed if - it will recover is somethingb we will only know in the distant future.