Skip to content
MarketScale
‹ Back to IndustriesFood & Beverage

Is Business Dining Ready for a Resurgence?

Food is serious business. Now, on The Main Course, host Barbara Castiglia will invite insiders on the front lines of food to share their expertise, strategies, and forecasts for navigating the ever-changing restaurant industry.   Is business dining making a comeback after being hit hard by the pandemic? Industry expert and Dinova CEO Alison Galik joined The Main…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Food & Beverage teams put it to work with Customer Stories & Case Studies.

Promoted content from The Main Course on MarketScale.

Share

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Food & Beverage?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Food & Beverage coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Request an invite

Food is serious business. Now, on The Main Course, host Barbara Castiglia will invite insiders on the front lines of food to share their expertise, strategies, and forecasts for navigating the ever-changing restaurant industry.

Is business dining making a comeback after being hit hard by the pandemic? Industry expert and Dinova CEO Alison Galik joined The Main Course to discuss the topic. Dinova is a preferred dining program provider that connects restaurants and companies.

“We had to focus on safety regulations and invested in adapting technology to share with restaurants and businesses accurate information” – Alison Galik

Galik joined the company three years ago after a career in corporate travel procurement and technology. Pre-pandemic business dining was booming. “It was the third largest expense category for companies, and average checks for it were 49 to 200 percent more than consumers,” she said.

Once the pandemic hit, the company shifted gears somewhat. “Our goal is to direct business dining spend to network restaurants. That didn’t change, but some of our messaging did. We had to focus on safety regulations and invested in adapting technology to share with restaurants and businesses accurate information,” Galik added.

They also shifted promotions from event space to encouraging companies to throw virtual celebrations, meal pickup, and gift cards. Now, their focus is on the vaccine and what that means for reopening. Galik noted the most crucial part for restaurants is safety. “Business diners must be safe.”

In addition to new messaging on promotions, safety, and regulations, Dinova is spreading ideas around opportunity. There’s new tax legislation that allows for 100 percent of business meals to be deducted, which they are communicating to their network.

Galik also sees an ample opportunity for fine dining. “They could become a preferred meeting space to support business connections for those corporations that stay closed or will limit visitors long-term.”

A New Episode is Served Up Every Tuesday and Thursday!

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

The Main Course

Part of this channel

The Main Course

Where restaurant and food industry insiders talk real business.

Visit the channel

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Food & Beverage starts with a company putting its plant managers, quality leads, and R&D teams on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Processors and grocery buyers vet suppliers hard, and your operations people are the ones who can satisfy them.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

Follow Food & Beverage Insights

Get new expert content in your inbox.

Food & Beverage: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Food & Beverage buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. See how AI describes your company today, and where competitors show up instead.

Free workspace

You just read one Food & Beverage expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your plant managers, quality leads, and R&D teams into the articles, video, and social content Food & Beverage buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale Studio workspace
One video edit a month, on us
AI writing, editing, and publishing tools
In-platform coaching to learn the system

More Food & Beverage Insights

Sweetmore’s Fantasy Baking deal shows food M&A is buying plant capacity

Sweetmore’s Fantasy Baking deal shows food M&A is buying plant capacity

Recent M&A activity in the food industry emphasizes expanding production capabilities by acquiring plant capacity. Companies are focusing on increasing their production lines and sites to enhance fulfillment speed. This trend highlights the importance of scalable operations in the competitive food sector.

  • 01Food industry M&A is prioritizing the acquisition of plant capacity to boost production capabilities.
  • 02Companies are expanding their production lines and sites for faster fulfillment.
  • 03Scaling operations is becoming crucial for competitiveness in the food sector.

Aug 28, 2026

GEA’s new changeover assistant shows food plants where digital is paying off

GEA’s new changeover assistant shows food plants where digital is paying off

GEA’s Changeover Assist aims to reduce changeover waste and downtime in food plants by integrating digital solutions. This tool helps in optimizing operations while working within tight budget constraints. It highlights the importance of digitalizing plant operations with technologies like WMS, monitoring, and MES.

  • 01GEA's Changeover Assist addresses downtime and waste during changeovers.
  • 02Changeover Assist integrates with GEA's cloud-based InsightPartner, letting operators centrally manage and update changeover instructions and build a cross-site knowledge base.
  • 03Digital transformation in food plants is increasingly measured by execution outcomes amid budget constraints, with 57% of manufacturers citing budget as the primary barrier to technology implementation.

Aug 28, 2026

Panda Express, SoCalGas and used-oil rebates point to a new kitchen changeover playbook

Panda Express, SoCalGas and used-oil rebates point to a new kitchen changeover playbook

Three unrelated developments, Panda Express's chainwide removal of synthetic dyes and artificial flavors, SoCalGas's no-cost equipment test lab, and the rise of used cooking oil as a rebate-generating commodity, point to a broader trend of kitchen changeovers being run with more upfront testing and post-launch accountability.

  • 01Panda Express says it has removed synthetic food dyes and artificial flavors across its roughly 2,500 locations, relying on iterative testing and close supplier work.
  • 02SoCalGas's Food Service Equipment Center lets operators test commercial gas equipment with their own recipes at no cost before purchasing, and connects them to rebates and compliance training.
  • 03Used cooking oil is increasingly treated as a managed, rebate-generating commodity, requiring operators to select collection partners and enforce reliable pickup schedules.

Aug 27, 2026

Explore More Food & Beverage Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Food & Beverage.

Browse Food & Beverage Hub

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Food & Beverage and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512