Bev-top media tech keeps a finger on the pulse of HORECA industry during Covid-19

May 3, 2020

While the world’s HORECA industries wait anxiously for signs of the ‘day after’ Covid-19, public return to these hospitality services will likely be gradual as we learn to adjust to social distancing.

Tracking the pace of this process is critical. For many businesses, the difference between several weeks or months could mean staying afloat versus closing their doors permanently.

With thousands of global customers in the HORECA industries, beverage-top media keeps a finger on the pulse of what’s happening ‘out on the streets’. In the context of Covid-19, it serves as a signal of recovery – and China is starting to blink on our radar.

Though it’s still early to pull out the champagne bottles, the initial trends demonstrated in Ripples print summaries below are cautiously promising. They include data from restaurants, bars, cafes and hotels in North America, EMEA and APAC.

China as harbinger of ‘the day after’ based on trends in print volume

Chart 1 below shows the upward trajectory for print volume in China, which is showing early signs of recovery. New data from Korea follows similar lines.

upward trajectory for print volume in China

Chart 2  below shows the dramatic decline in Ripples print volume, coinciding with  major developments on the Covid-19 global timeline. 

dramatic decline in Ripples print volume

Sentiment analysis of drink content during Covid-19

The BI capabilities inherent to this emerging technology place it in a unique position to monitor sentiment analysis for drink content.

As we create a wide range of text and image-based drink content at Ripples, we were curious to try and spot trends  in what people are choosing to print on their drinks since the pandemic outbreak.

Although most of our customers around the globe have closed their doors for business in the past six weeks, the prints that we are still seeing all echo messages of hope and solidarity, and were primarily posted on social media as a way for businesses to engage and uplift customers during this challenging time.

View this post on Instagram

Daily reminder: life is tough darling, but so are you. ☕️

A post shared by Carrera Cafe (@carreracafe) on

Although most of our customers around the globe have closed their doors for business in the past six weeks, the prints that we are still seeing all echo messages of hope and solidarity, and were primarily posted on social media as a way for businesses to engage and uplift customers during this challenging time.

In addition to sentiment analysis, we’re closely monitoring additional data that is relevant for the Food & Beverage, and Hospitality industries, including:

  • Which industries are printing
  • On what types of beverages
  • In which geographic regions

We’ll be keeping you posted as insights keep rolling in. Fingers crossed!

Written by Yossi Meshulam, CEO of Ripples, the beverage-top media company. 

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