Photo: courtesy of FOR Solutions
Poland is on lockdown, like many other countries in the world. The consequences on the economy, which until recently had shown the highest growth rates in Europe, are devastating. Inevitably, the pandemic has deeply affected the Polish food sector, with catastrophic results. Here are some dispatches from the trenches.
Poland is on lockdown, like many other countries in the world. Despite the relatively low number of coronavirus cases (and very few deaths), rules are tight, and apparently the police are very eagerly enforcing them. Although it is not officially forbidden, there is little jogging, bicycles, and outdoors exercise to be seen; no more than two people together. Masks are now required to leave home. The consequences on the economy, which until recently had shown the highest growth rates in Europe, are devastating.
For the past three years, I have been visiting Poland for a research project on the revaluation on regional and traditional food. That feels light years ago. I am not sure of the situation I will find when I will be able to go back, whenever that will be. Inevitably, the pandemic has deeply affected the food sector, with catastrophic results. Grzegorz Łapanowski, former host of TopChef Poland, supposes that at the moment cash flow for restaurants dropped between 80 and 90%. Dining establishments can only provide takeout and deliveries, as no dining in is allowed since March 14. This has proved unsustainable for many owners who have so far received no help from local and national authorities in terms of financial support to pay employee salaries, rents, mortgages, and taxes.
Wojtek Lewandowski, organizer of the Good Taste Festival in Poznań, has observed that fine dining restaurants, after the initial close down, are now reopening for delivery and pick up but with simple bistro style menus plus jars, preserves, frozen foods etc. Others have shifted their menu and continue to provide high quality dishes for delivery, such as Justyna Słupska Kartaczowska at Jadka in Wrocław, Michał Kuter at A Nóż Widelec in Poznań, and Robert Trzópek of Bez Gwiazdek in Warsaw, just to mention a few. Also bars like Wozownia in Warsaw have switched to delivery and takeout only, relying like many others on the restaurant cooperative WspieramGastro (I support Gastronomy), with already more than 100 members. Tomasz Czudowski, owner of the wine bar Alevino in Warsaw, organized it so that customers can order directly from restaurants at a fraction of the fees that delivery companies would impose on food establishments, helping owners to stay afloat and pay employees and bills.
Some chefs are thinking outside the box. Aleksander Baron, former chef at Solec 44 and Zoni in Warsaw, has launched a new production of fermented foods, for which he is well known, under the name Baron – The Family, and continues to sell the line of kiełbasa sausages he had started last summer with sausage master Jacek Nowicki. Together with a couple of friends, Marcin Koch of Bazar Kocha restaurant in Warsaw has founded a special project called ForRest to support smaller culinary business owners with advice about law, finance, and dealing with unexpected changes.
Many restaurateurs hoped that Easter, a very important celebration in Poland, would mark an increase in orders and meal kits, but it is too early to know if that boon actually materialized. According to Lewandowski, orders seemed to be lower than expected because many people did not plan on a big holiday meal, because they were not able to spend it with their extended family. Moreover, many have started to save and to cook themselves, also because they have time on their hands. In his opinion, small places with low costs of operation have a chance to survive, and the places funded by big international investment capital might too.
Maciej Nowicki, chef in charge of educational culinary activities at the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace in Wilanów, argues that the luxury end of the business will suffer, as people will have to deal with what looks like a major and painful recession, when everybody will have to save as much as possible. The thinks that very reasonable prices gastropubs run by family businesses will prevail, with simple, local, not expensive menus, that make “more honest and straightforward food, nothing overcomplicated.” He believes that people are going back to the roots, at the moment.
Not everybody is dealing with the same issues. Michał Lachur, chef at Organic Corner Food Store & Bistro, says he does not see much difference, at least by now. People are more likely to buy foods that are known for boosting their immune system, so now he cooks with a lot with turmeric, ginger, shiitake mushrooms, and acerola. In the store, everything is packed either in jars or in plastic sealed containers, as people don’t want to buy in biodegradable containers that they normally use when someone orders a take away meal. But Lachur admits it is too soon to tell what is going to happen. It will definitely affect them. His customers may have bigger saving accounts and liquidity, but for sure some of them will lose their jobs.
In his interaction with radio listeners, Paweł Loroch, host of show Gastrofaza on Antyradio, has noticed that people have become interested in cooking at home as never before. People have started to see the value of this activity, which can be shared with children. “They are bored at home. even those who never cooked before find it creative and relaxing. I get emails about what the healthiest options are. They talk about turmeric, ginger, pickled cucumbers, fermented cabbage… It is interesting how people underline how important knowledge about food is.”
Overall, food is widely available, with the exceptions of yeast, flour, and some dry goods that disappeared from shelves because people were hoarding, like it happened in the US or in Italy. When it comes to distribution and stores, big business and large retail supermarkets are doing well. People keep on buying food, obviously, and they can sell products at low prices, leveraging scale and their network of purveyors. They have problems because of the new administrative rules that impose a limited number of shoppers (only three per chaser line) but their business is doing just fine. As a matter of fact, some supermarket are now open 24/7 in order to observe the new requirements.
Łapanowski notices that as food can still come in and out of the country, the big chains are buying on the international market. It is easier to buy over a computer, regardless of where the goods come from, as long as they prices make sense. “It is nice to say the food is local, for storytelling purposes, but we are not so patriotic about food,” quips Łapanowski. He has observed that the logistics connecting retail chains and Polish farmers has always been not so efficient. He does not make hypotheses on the reason for the phenomenon, but it is likely due to the small dimensions of many local producers, their limited output, their volatile reliability, and inconsistencies in the products.
Nevertheless, some farmers are taking advantage of the fact that many large stores and well-established delivery companies are overwhelmed by the request, with deliveries that may take weeks. Loroch points out that some producers are providing fresh boxes, which are delivered once a week delivery with fresh fruit and vegetables for two, four people, or a whole family. Clients don’t have the precise choice of what they will get in the box but they are sure it is fresh, local, and healthy. Farmers markets and food halls are also shifting to e-commerce, with specific days for pickup and a lot of safety measure, as people are uncomfortable shopping in close contact with others. The consensus, however, is that as the recession will hit larger and larger number of Poles, people will become very careful about their expenses, probably caring less about quality than prices. But it is too early to envision what the impact will be on those producers that in past years had bet on high quality good, heirloom varieties, or artisanal specialties. Moreover, as little rain and snow fell during the winter, a noticeable draught is expected, with possible heave consequences on agricultural production. The sector will also be shaken by the departure of many Ukrainian workers (who constitute the largest migrant community in Poland) due to the border closing. At the same time, many Polish workers that used to go to Western Europe for the spring and summer harvest are now stuck in Poland and will possible have to take the low-paying farm jobs that the Ukrainians used to do.
Against this dire background, acts of solidarity multiply. Neighbors may take care of neighbors, especially the elderly, shopping and bringing food for them. Lots of charities are focusing on helping healthcare workers with supplies of food. Bogdan Gałązka of the Gothic Café in the castle of Malbork, in northern Poland, with the help of chef Agata Wojda, is preparing the same pancakes he used to deliver to travelers on the Pendolino fast train, except that now he brings them to doctors and nurses in hospitals. Anna Wylężek from Muszla, a pizzeria in Gdynia on the Baltic coast, organized the #GastroPomaga (#GastroHelps) campaign to provide meals to doctors.
Łapanowski’s foundation, Szkoła na widelcu (school on the fork), is supporting families whose kids were getting their only warm healthy meal in school, and they are not getting it any longer. They are collecting money in a crowdfunding platform to prepare packages full of fresh food that they deliver directly to families, together with recipes for healthy dishes. Wzywamy posiłki (we call for meals), launched by professionals who lost their jobs, is feeding 50,000 people a day with a fully organized central staff, local coordinators throughout Poland, media partners, and a logistics system that connected hundreds of large and small companies in the catering sector.