Crisis Management and Resilience for Restaurants in Romania during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The world is going through a pandemic that is spreading and affecting all parts of society. Businesses throughout Romania have been affected and many are in a state of crisis because of the virus. There is a general fear spread among the population since the government has implemented restrictions for both companies and people. This crisis is impacting restaurants all across the country. Even though a large number of restaurants are going out of business it is also clear that some prevail and some even do better than before the crisis. Previous studies conducted during a crisis showed that some businesses were more resilient than others due to the successful integration of crisis management and strategic planning. This study aims to analyze the integration between crisis management and strategic planning of four different restaurants by focusing on their leadership and culture. The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate up to what extend the restaurants are working towards resilience by conducting interviews with the leader of the restaurants and co-workers. This study showed that the crisis is changing the ways small restaurants are acting and tend to become more resilient as the crisis progress and in the face of an even more possible financial crisis. Moreover, this study showed new opportunities such a crisis brings and how small restaurants are adopting them.