Determinant factors for the restaurant sector since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Peruvian case

The situation of the restaurant sector in Peru, since the COVID-19 pandemic, has varied in comparison to the rise that was expected in the sector before the sanitary crisis. Due to the massive contagions and the uncontrollable nature of the disease, government regulations were implemented, and the process of adjusting to the protocols for serving the public took time, affecting the progress of businesses in this area. This study focuses on this problem with the objective of identifying the most determining factors to promote the development and growth of the restaurant sector, in a stage that some call the new normality. To this end, a compilation of documents related to the subject was carried out and two rounds of open interviews were conducted with the participation of seven experts on the subject. Thereafter, the factors were identified and ranked according to their level of mobility and dependence in a matrix of impacts with the help of MICMAC software (Matrix of Cross Impacts Multiplication Applied to a Classification). The findings of the study show that the most influential factors of the system are compliance with the required protocols, reinforcement of the delivery service and training in hygiene and disinfection. These results serve as a basis for planning possible scenarios aimed at the future development of the sector, as well as local strategies that can be transferred to other contexts in the region.