Activities of Food Retail Companies in Poland during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Context of Food Security

This paper deals with a very important topic concerning the adaptive actions of food retail entities, operating in a network model, during threats caused by a pandemic. The aim of the study was to identify and characterize the actions taken by food retail chain entities during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the context of the food security of consumers in Poland (using the example of Wielkopolska). A basic research hypothesis (H0) was generated, stating that the adaptation activities of food retail chain actors varied during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland with regard to ensuring consumer food security. It was detailed in five sub-hypotheses. In their verification and in the realization of the aim of the study, the methods of literature study and other secondary sources, and induction, survey, comparative, visualization, modeling and descriptive statistics, were used. The research results include (a) the authors' diagnosis of threats to the food security of companies in the food system resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and applied ways of adaptation to the new requirements of the environment, based on secondary sources; (b) analysis of data from the empirical survey conducted by the authors in November 2020 on the adaptive actions of companies, among managers/owners of food retail stores of a selected network of a particular franchise type in Greater Poland; (c) the construction of an empirical model of the typical behaviors of food retail units in the chain under study, distinguishing three of their types in the model; and (d) suggestions concerning the directions of future scientific research areas. The article was prepared following the stream of sustainable development theory.