Fighting to lose less when closure is not an option: three-R strategies of fine-dining restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many businesses, forcing them to either close down or suspend operation for an extended time period. Since hospitality and tourism (H&T) companies are interrelated, closure of business may cause ripple effects and negatively affect individuals, organizations, and communities. Maintaining operation is especially important for some H&T units, when they are integral parts of larger H&T operations, such as the restaurants in the integrated resorts in Macao. Fighting to lose less, therefore, becomes one of their new business objectives in this prolonged battle. This paper explores how fine-dining restaurants in the integrated resorts in Macao adjust their business and operations in a highly uncertain and unpredictable environment. The findings present a Three-R Strategy Model (Reducing, Revising, and Reviving), which differs from strategies deployed in other crisis scenarios. The paper extends the existing knowledge of crisis management, and provides H&T practitioners a practical model for dealing with prolonged crises.