THE NEW ERA OF HOSPITALITY

With restaurants slowly reopening during the pandemic, what might hospitality look like moving forward?

By Samantha Lande

“The quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.” That is how one online dictionary defines hospitality and what the restaurants we love have always done – made us feel welcome and cared for.

Before COVID-19, restaurants were places to linger over a glass of wine with friends, a chance to catch up with your favorite bartender or chat with your server about menu favorites.

As restaurants slowly start to reopen with limited capacity and stringent safety measures, hospitality as we once knew it has changed. That doesn’t mean that the heart and soul of a restaurant is gone; rather, the approach to bringing it to the forefront is what’s different. We spoke with restaurant consultants and operators across the country, from drive-thru and quick-service operators to more formal dining institutions, to get their view on what hospitality will look like for the foreseeable future.

Safety is the new hospitality

When customers return to restaurants, they know things won’t be as they left them. Priorities have shifted just as much for the consumer, and they are focused on one major element of their experience: safety.

“Think about walking into a restaurant and seeing fingerprints on the door,” says Kathleen Wood, founder of Suzy’s Swirl, a frozen yogurt shop in Lake Bluff, Illinois, and Kathleen Wood Partners, a business consultancy. “Would that make you feel safe and welcome?”

Customers want to feel supported the minute they walk in the door and Wood suggests that that may involve designating one sanitation person as a part of your front of house staff. What once was something that guests were confident was happening behind the scenes they now want to see at the forefront. “They want to know that tables are being frequently