Perceptions of managers and employees regarding the effects of the covid-19 pandemic and crisis management practices in food and beverage services: Example of Erzurum

In the historical process, epidemic diseases that cause mass deaths have been evaluated differently from other diseases. Although the coronavirus-related epidemics, which have been effective in certain regions in the last hundred years, have created anxiety, they have not been permanent. However, Covid-19, which started as an epidemic at the beginning of 2020, later turned into a pandemic and caused negativities in different areas in many parts of the world. Many institutions and organizations that make up the society during the crisis have been affected positively and negatively by this situation. Undoubtedly, there are food and beverage businesses among these institutions. Therefore, in this study, it is aimed to investigate the positive and negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on food and beverage businesses and to determine the crisis management practices followed by the food and beverage businesses during the pandemic process and the attitudes within this framework. In this context, data were collected from the owners, managers and other employees of the food and beverage businesses in Erzurum by survey technique. Within the scope of the study, 217 valid questionnaires were collected and the data were analyzed in the SPSS analysis program. As a result of the analysis, it has been determined that although there are negative situations such as the increase in hygiene and sanitation expenses due to Covid-19 in the food and beverage businesses operating in Erzurum, innovative applications have been started in the Covid-19 process, starting from the opportunities during the crisis period.