The performance of the Food Retail sector in 2021 is showing positive signs even though it is obviously still affected by the negative socio-economic reverberations of the Covid-19 pandemic. During 2020 the health emergency hit hard the whole catering sector which, due to the prolonged and intermittent lock down phases, experienced dramatic moments. In terms of legal assistance and consultancy to the Food Retail sector, 2020 was marked by prolonged negotiation activity aimed at finding a balance between the reasons of the landlords and the requests of the companies for redevelopment of the rent. The result of this activity has been, on average, positive, in terms of reaching balanced agreements on rent revisions, but overall the impact of the pandemic factor has been very severe in terms of a drop in turnover for the entire sector, which has also seen a succession of numerous business closures that have certainly affected mostly, but not only, those companies that had previous problems of capitalization and financial instability already in the pre-covid era. The operators in the sector have, moreover, noted a lack of effectiveness and proportionality of the economic support measures arranged by the Government. In 2021, especially in the second half of the year, despite the persistence of widespread uncertainty regarding short and medium-term economic scenarios, and in conjunction with the beginning of a recovery in companies' cash flows, although certainly not equal to pre-covid levels, encouraging signs were also seen regarding the resumption of development plans. Negotiations were thus more focused on negotiations for new openings, which saw a cautious revival of initiatives to acquire commercial premises and other retail locations. On the other hand, even the obvious and in some cases favorable opportunities offered by the market are often approached with a certain degree of caution, determined by the awareness that the period of emergency is far from over. As far as the target of the positioning is concerned, there is a clear predisposition to search for locations equipped with large outdoor dehors, due to the changed habits of customers who certainly prefer an offer with characteristics of greater outdoor livability. On the other hand, a possible obstacle to development is the chronic lack of qualified personnel.