The COVID-19 pandemic caused an immense impact on the global economy and affected divergently to the world of work. Due to strict regional lockdowns, the food manufacturing and logistics activities have been suspended. Therefore, the firms’ management had to look at threats and opportunities in the environment and have begun implementing new business strategies and actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the companies that responded quickly to this crisis by formulating coping strategies showed strong sales growth. Hence, this study aims to uncover the coping strategies and actions adopted by Sri Lankan food manufacturing firms during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study has followed the qualitative research approach and is inspired by the interpretivism research philosophy. Five large-scale food manufacturing companies have been selected based on the purposive sampling technique. The authors were able to discern coping strategies pertaining to four core business processes. Temporary collaborations, redesigning the procurement, strategic investments in advanced technologies, introducing crisis inspiring innovations, rapid digital transformations, line simplifications and downsizing can be identified as some prominent strategies. With the Covid-19 outbreak, still there is a lack of research studies regarding the strategies adopted by different industries and none of the studies have previously investigated the crisis-coping strategies adapted by food manufacturers in developing economies like Sri Lanka. The findings of this study will be a useful insights for the management, when formulating efficacious strategies and policies to cope with inevitable future crisis and offers a groundwork for further empirical studies.