Watching the recovery efforts of the food industry gives a bit of hope to overall recovery as a nation. 

In the current climate of the US, many restaurants are still struggling to understand how to rework and reorganize themselves to be profitable. As a result of COVID-19, many in the food industry, whether catering or production, have unfortunately had to close their doors, some permanently.

Maryland governor Larry Hogan recently stopped by Soft Stuff Distributors, one of the Maryland-based companies to receive pandemic aid, in order to highlight and showcase their successful recovery. Soft Stuff Distributors, with the aid from the government, has managed to effectively weather the COVID pandemic so far, retaining employees and pay without being shut down. 

After receiving $50,000 from the Maryland Department of Labor’ COVID-19 Layoff Aversion Fund, Soft Stuff changed marketing tactics, allowing for curbside delivery and pickup. In addition to this, Soft Stuff changed their attention to e-commerce content in an effort to improve their financial standing which paid off dramatically. With Soft Stuff’s success, the company could prove not only its own management benefits, but also how the external aid for the company could be used for more than just keeping people on-board.