The crisis that triggered the pandemic wiped out 20% of restaurants and food businesses in the country, according to Canirac data. Some 120,000 small and medium-sized companies in the sector could not survive the low demand for their services and others remained in the attempt to digitize their services and obtain financial support from banks and government, the latter almost non-existent until then.
Germán González, president of Canirac, explained during his intervention in the panel that many of the small businesses were paralyzed in the face of what was something new for everyone. “This accelerated dialogue and synergies with banks, suppliers and the government.”
The bank had to design new products for microentrepreneurs. “Mexico is still way behind other similar countries in financial inclusion,” says Mario Langarica, Gentera’s CFO.
The bank, for example, expanded the use of Yastás, one of its products that allows small businesses to charge with bank or credit cards. “We already had these tools, but we never imagined the speed and adaptability that all our clients had (…) The tools existed, but we had not used them to this magnitude. Suddenly we realize that this digital transformation has accelerated radically and that it is extremely important. That is going to be a great advance for financial inclusion ”.
Coca-Cola also found in the pandemic an opportunity to support small businesses – which distribute a large part of their products – through home delivery and provide them with some of the necessary supplies to avoid contagion.
“We have to know what happens in the different scenarios and territories of the country in order to come up with solutions designed globally but adjusted to local needs. I think there is a magic formula: digitization plus innovation, ”says Sergio Londoño, director of public affairs, communication and sustainability at Coca-Cola Mexico.
As restaurants immerse themselves in digitization, new opportunities arise to attract new customers and generate more sales. But there is still a long way to go.
“Are we already at the pre-pandemic levels? Not yet, I believe that the (restaurant) industry is at 70 or 75% of what sales were before the pandemic. But at least this volume allows businesses to no longer be destroyed. When we were below this number, during confinement, a business would close every day ”.