9 creative ways that retailers, restaurants, and service workers are staying afloat during coronavirus shutdowns

• The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in shutdowns and massive losses for retailers, restaurants, and their workers.
• But many are supplementing their income losses by pivoting to new tactics and opportunities that are more suited to the pandemic.
• Here are nine ways that retailers and workers are still making money while most stores and restaurants are shut down.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The coronavirus pandemic has been devastating for retailers, restaurants, and their workers.

One in five restaurants might not make it through the pandemic. Independent restaurant owners are in especially dire straits. And one in four small businesses may have to permanently close.

But businesses and workers are stepping up to the challenge of staying afloat during a pandemic and finding new — and often creative — ways to continue making money.

Here are some of those ways:

Fine-dining establishments started offering takeout and delivery

Seattle fine-dining restaurant Canlis switched to carry-out operations after Washington State's bars and restaurants were ordered to shut their doors. Canlis also offers groceries and family meals on Tock, which was previously a reservation service.

Countless other restaurants followed suit. Michelin-starred Alinea in Chicago, which usually sells out of bookings for $300 tasting menus months in advance, now sells comfort food to-go. Carbone's famous veal parm drew crowds of delivery people after the notoriously exclusive New York restaurant announced it was open for takeout.

Reservation sites now take delivery orders

With reservations no longer a factor in the restaurant industry, reservation-specific websites have pivoted to offering pick-up and delivery. Tock and Resy, both previously exclusively reservation websites, wrote and implemented new code that transformed their sites' function completely to serve restaurants' needs during the pandemic.

Now, you can find all of the offerings of fine dining and local restaurants on reservation platforms. These include virtual classes, takeout, delivery, and sometimes even produce boxes.

Restaurants are also offering groceries and meal preparation kits

Panera and Subway now sell groceries. Shake Shack released a meal prep kit for its famous burger, and Chick-fil-A rereleased its Chicken Parmesan meal kit nationwide.

Countless other restaurants are doing the same thing, both chains and independents. With less people eating out, restaurants have discovered that at-home food offerings appeal more to the pandemic crowd. Especially as grocery stores are often places of risk and shortage, buying groceries and meal kits from restaurants has become an especially appealing alternative for many customers.

Chain restaurants started offering free and contactless delivery en masse

Chipotle and KFC were some of the first major fast-food chains to start offering free delivery during the coronavirus pandemic. Now, free delivery is widespread and even commonplace. As chain restaurants are being forced to close their dining rooms around the country, delivery has become even more essential to their business.

Chains have also started offering contactless delivery to reassure customers at home that ordering delivery can be safe. Major pizza chains like Papa John's and Domino's, which have seen a boost in popularity since the pandemic-related shutdowns began, have started offering contactless delivery nationwide.

Small businesses are asking customers to buy gift cards

Many small businesses that have been forced to close their doors have asked guests to buy gift cards so they can cover their immediate losses. However, this is a short-term solution that won't do much to mitigate small businesses' losses in the long term. Gift cards provide a cash injection now, but eventually, businesses will have to make good on the credit they sell to customers.

Fitness studios are turning to virtual classes as large gatherings are banned

Group workouts were one of the first luxuries to go, and that meant that mom-and-pop operations like martial arts gyms, boutique fitness studios, and other smaller businesses saw their income fall off a cliff.

Classpass, a service that previously sold credits for in-person fitness classes at various gyms and fitness studios, relaunched its class livestreaming service, which had previously been scrapped.

Conbody in New York, which usually holds its prison-style boot camps in a jail cell-like studio, is one of the many small gyms to offer livestreams through Classpass.

Home fitness titan Peloton heavily discounted monthly subscriptions for its app, which is focused on at-home workouts. And Mindfl, a meditation studio in New York, created Mindfl TV and started offering its classes virtually.

Former restaurant workers are turning to grocery, delivery, and fulfillment jobs

Restaurant workers have been among the hardest hit by mass layoffs. In the meantime, demand for labor has shifted from the restaurant industry to delivery, grocery, and fulfillment. Of all the types of restaurants still operating, pizza delivery is seeing the largest growth.

Additionally, grocery stores, pharmacies, delivery services like Instacart, and Amazon are some of the biggest employers that are hiring right now. As Amazon struggles to fill its orders even with restrictions imposed, customers are seeing Prime orders delayed until as late as May, and Jeff Bezos is begging restaurant workers to come work for Amazon.

These might be the perfect temporary gigs for restaurant workers. The boom in grocery and delivery will likely last as long as the shutdown of restaurants.

Apparel retailers are doubling down on online sales and offering free delivery

As much of America remains at home, our clothing needs have changed. Apparel retailers have had to adjust, fast.

Major sales have popped up across the online marketplace, often coquettishly quarantine-themed. Many retailers have released new comfort-focused collections targeted at the stay-at-home crowd. And it's a trend that's swept all levels of the market except for the top.

Gap is running an up to 60% off sale with an extra 20% discount, and "affordable" luxury brand rag & bone has offered lowered prices for all their products. Even Coach is running an up to 50% off sale.

Retailers have also pivoted to making and selling masks:

The one clothing category that is still in high demand pretty much everywhere is masks. And retailers have quickly realized this.

By now, most clothing retailers have also launched their own line of cloth masks, often in fun or fashionable styles. Business Insider has put together an list of retailers and makers selling masks.