Joey Hadden/Business Insider
Yeast sales have spiked in the last week as more people turn to baking bread at home.
Hello!
Welcome back to another week week of The Drive-Thru! Plot Twist: It's me again, Shoshy Ciment, back with another installment of Business Insider's weekly roundup of all things fast food and retail.
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The coronavirus is still dominating the news cycle on the retail desk. From fast-food chains to craft and office supply stores, here are the biggest stories of the week.
Hobby Lobby defies shutdown orders
Courtesy of Hobby Lobby employee
A Hobby Lobby store.
Craft stores like Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and Joann Fabrics are in an interesting situation. Though perhaps not intuitively "essential" businesses, these chains insist they are "essential' and that they must stay open during the coronavirus outbreak. In some cases, these stores are defying statewide orders to shut down.
Bethany has been following this story closely. She obtained a memo where Hobby Lobby explained to managers in states with mandatory lockdowns how to deal with local authorities. She also uncovered that the craft chain was defying state-mandated lockdowns by reopening stores in 14 of the 38 states currently under these orders.
Bethany spoke to some Hobby Lobby employees who expressed fear for their safety after being expected to come to work with a lack of proper protection and inadequate sick pay.
"We are being forced to stay open with no type of protection for employees," a Hobby Lobby employee in Texas wrote in an email to Business Insider. "We are trying to be a part of the solution for stopping the spread of this deadly virus instead of the problem."
Staples and Office Depot employees say they shouldn't be considered essential
Reuters/Rick Wilking
A family leaves the Staples store in Broomfield, Colorado August 17, 2011.
I spoke to a bunch of Staples and Office Depot employees this week to understand why these businesses are deemed essential.
I viewed letters given to some of these workers, which are intended to prove that they work for an "essential" business. These letters explained the companies' designation as "essential" by referring to the cleaning and work-from-home-enabling products sold in both stores and said that each company supports hospitals and healthcare providers.
But when I spoke to employees at both retailers it became clear that for a number of them on the ground, this "essential" designation could be misleading.
Five employees said their store is consistently out of essential items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Employees also said their stores were running low on work-from-home-enabling office supplies as well.
"It's confusing to me why they say we're essential if they're not stocking us like we're essential," a South Carolina Office Depot employee told me, explaining how their store had not gotten shipments of toilet paper in two weeks and was completely out of web cameras and monitors.
A Staples spokesperson said that it provides business and educational materials and products, household goods, and cleaning supplies, which makes it essential. The spokesperson added that these products also help support other essential businesses. Office Depot did not return a request for comment.
The 'Restaurant Apocalypse' is upon us
AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli
Employees stand in the empty dining room of a Sacramento, California, restaurant on March 17, 2020.
A Wednesday UBS note featured a grim figure: close to 20% of restaurants across the US could permanently close because of the coronavirus pandemic. The note added that about 3% of restaurants in the US have already closed permanently.
A National Restaurant Association survey revealed some other grim figures. For example, 3 million jobs have already been lost in the industry.
But as many restaurants struggle during the pandemic, certain chains are well-positioned to come out on top, according to Kate's conversations with industry experts and analysts. It turns out that pizza chains like Papa John's and Domino's and restaurants that already had a significant drive-thru and delivery program are likely to be in the best shape.
Meanwhile, fast-food chains like McDonald's, Popeyes, and Burger King are ramping up efforts to keep their stores disinfected by offering temperature checks to their workers. McDonald's is even working to secure masks for some workers.
Quarantine Cuisine: Mama Aisha's lentils
Irene Jiang/Business Insider
Mama Aisha's lentils.
In her efforts to share easy, shelf-stable recipes for people stuck at home, Irene took a trip down memory lane.
When she lived in Morocco, she regularly ate lentils at Mama Aisha's restaurant. After leaving, she developed her own version of the lentils to satisfy her craving from the US.
The recipe doesn't have set amounts of ingredients, which allows for some experimentation. Irene also recommended trying the lentils with some bread.
When it comes to spices, Irene said to go crazy. "But my advice is: Take the amount of spice you think you need - and double it."
Everything else that's going on:
Business Insider/Hayley Peterson
Amazon-owned Whole Foods offers no paid parental leave to employees.
- Whole Foods doesn't give its workers paid parental leave, and it's having a disturbing effect on workers.
- A growing number of retailers are furloughing their workers.
- Bra startup ThirdLove laid off nearly 30% of its workforce.
- Sephora laid off thousands of employees, at least some of which were given the news via conference call.
- Thousands of former sample servers in Costco stores have reportedly been laid off.
- An Amazon delivery driver tested positive for COVID-19.
- Costco gave at least some of its older employees two weeks of extra paid leave.
- Looking for a job? These essential businesses are hiring.
Do you have a personal experience with the coronavirus you'd like to share? Or a tip on how your town or community is handling the pandemic? Please email covidtips@businessinsider.com and tell us your story.
And get the latest coronavirus analysis and research from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses.