According to the National Restaurant Association, at the beginning of 2021only eight percent of restaurant operators considered recruitment and retention of employees as a challenge.  By April, more than half regarded staffing as a major restraint to resuming pre-COVID sales. 

Non-availability of labor creates opportunities for food processors to be able to deliver added value ingredients and produce to compensate for a lower level of kitchen preparation.  Some restaurant operators believe that with reduction in state and federal support, workers will return to pre-COVID positions.  Wages and benefits will be higher suggesting that mechanization and robotics could displace untrained workers carrying out routine operations.  It is evident that there will be a higher proportion of products that will be pre-cooked and pre-prepared in commissaries and ghost kitchens to be distributed to QSRs and other points of consumption.