Hi Noemi, yes, I am still based in Ghent, and probably for a long time as my husband’s family is Flemish, and I am liking Ghent 
I will join you on this event, and shared with you a bit more details as @nadia has suggested me to talk to you:
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Perfect @lylycarrillo thanks for registering, got it!
We will send all participants the link to the online session early next week,
Meanwhile, if you have any other recommendations for who we should invite to join us, please let us know and we will contact them,
Some data from various sources, to give an idea about what’s happened in the food retail during the lockdown in Italy (where the lockdown was particularly strict) and why food communities got a boost from the epidemics, both in the rural and urban milieu. The communitarian response is there and localisation (even at risk of becoming localism) also, and there is potential for further development. In my view, the big question for every food manager is: how much prices will be important in purchase behaviours during the economic crisis?
The Italian food retail in general marked increases of around 10% up to the first half of April 2020, with peaks of 30% for packaged goods. But small retail outlets, discount stores and supermarkets made double-digit progress. So-called hypermarkets, which already were in a structural crisis, suffered further marginalization. Italians made greater use of neighborhood shops and small markets compared to pre-Covid. The reduction in the frequency of spending corresponded to a preference towards points of sale close to home, especially those that have introduced services such as click & collect, telephone orders, via WhatsApp or via the website (16% of families benefited from food delivery). Take into account that before the pandemics Italian consumers were not enthusiastic online food buyers. According to a recent survey, 60% said that the origin of food - already relevant in the past - will be even more important after the Covid. This is tricky because it might have ‘gastro-nationalistic’ outcomes (see the proposed law in Czech Republic to push supermarkets to sell 55% of ‘national’ food). 45% said that short supply chains will be more important. It has to be seen how these new trends will match with the attention to convenience and price, given a difficult economic outlook, which will likely determine a sharp reduction in income and spending capacity.
Hope this helps.
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Hi Nadia, thanks for the head-up. Not sure if I can make it today.
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A post was merged into an existing topic: Learning from the Brussels food ecosystem - how can communities keep working together?