Product diversification as the impact of covid 19 on seafood-based culinary businesses

Abstract

Covid 19 encourages creative business actors to produce product diversification with very diverse menu variations. The purposes of this study are to: 1) analyze product diversification during the pandemic, 2) analyze the trigger factors for product diversification creativity. Respondents consisted of 56 people who were determined based on the criteria: 1) providing seafood menus, 2) diversifying products. The research was conducted for three months from September to December 2020 in Kendari by conducting interviews with respondents. Data were analyzed using description analysis, tabulation, Likert scale and multiple regression statistics to answer the research objectives. It is suspected that the triggering factors for product diversification during the COVID-19 pandemic are 1) competitiveness, 2) sustainability, 3) additional menus, 4) changes in atmosphere, and 5) customer trust. The results showed that product diversification occurred due to the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic so that respondents should do anything in their power to survive while minimizing losses. This study concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged the birth of new and more varied product Significant competitiveness, sustainability, additional menus and customer trust have a real influence on product diversification.. Meanwhile, the change of atmosphere has no significant effect on the diversification of production.