The lockdowns have been grudgingly painful for most of us. Apart from the irreparable damage to economies worldwide, the toll it has taken on the mental health of most working professionals has also been quite adverse.
But there are several instances of green shoots & positive news across industries and throughout the world.
Countries & policymakers, in particular, have realized that a severe lockdown is no solution and that we are going to have to live in tandem with the “new normal”.
As such, many western countries have begun seeing impositions being lifted and one among the main industries to see some sort of relief is the hospitality industry. In particular, restaurants, bars & pubs.
Most Restaurants, typically the higher-end ones, are by nature a place of social gathering which seems counterproductive to the idea of social distancing.
This is why restaurants should ramp up their game when it comes to preventive and hygiene measures that they can take to avoid the spread of the dreaded disease.
We list a few changes that you are likely to see as pubs, restaurants & cafés adapt to their newer strategies. We expect these trends to continue, at least till the time an effective vaccine has not been announced
- Expect Enclosed Seating Arrangements Within The Restaurant: Sticking to the main theme of social distancing, you can expect establishments to change their seating arrangements significantly. The traditional idea of closely packed tables with narrow passageways in order to maximize occupancy potential is long gone.
Restaurants are moving towards seating arrangements that ensure safe distance, isolation, privacy and hygiene control. Expect booth seating arrangements to see a significant bump.
Apart from that, expect novel seating arrangements with additional safety measures to take effect as well. Commercial restaurant counter for bars, pubs & cafes are back in fashion – but with a twist.
Expect an empty seat on either side of you, also expect a divider which prevents you from being in close contact with the person sitting next to you.
- Get Comfortable with Dining Outdoors: The new situation has forced restaurant owners to reclaim their outdoors, a popular case in point is the iconic Katz Delicatessen, that has moved most of its seating arrangements to the pavements. Establishments with a large parking lot have used that space as a seating arrangement as well.
If you live in an area with an unforgiving climate, you can take solace in the fact that most restauranteurs will legally be required to put in place advanced filtration systems for their air conditioning. (Source: McKinsey Report)
- Fewer Personnel & Specialized Exchange Spots: As restaurants are themselves facing huge losses & practically 0 customers, most of them have had no option but to lay off a huge chunk of their employees. Several employees themselves have returned back to their hometowns following directives to the restaurants.
So you can expect your service to not be so prompt and instant.
- Dedicated Pathways: Roaming about freely in a restaurant is not as it used to be. Expect dual carriageways on the restaurant paths. These are around to ensure that people do not come in close contact with each other.
- Overcommunication: No business wants to be held responsible for any Covid-19 related infection. Same goes for restaurants too. Especially with instances similar to the Brazilian Chicken Wings Fiasco. Expect all safety measures will be overcommunicated to diners by of signage on the floor, doorways, washrooms, furniture and digitally too.
Customers have the implied responsibility to follow these protocols steadfastly and ensure that none of these rules are flouted to help businesses sustain and infection be kept under control.
