share generously. eat naturally. live deliciously.

When you choose Prosciutto di San Daniele PDO, Grana Padano PDO and Prosciutto di Parma PDO, you show a passion for the Italian way of life that includes incomparably delicious, natural food that’s never mass-produced or processed. Each of these products carries the Protected Designation of Origin seal, the European Union’s guarantee of quality and authenticity, so you know they are from a specific geographical region in Italy and are created using traditional techniques that have set the standard of culinary excellence for generations. Learn more about these icons of European taste at iconsofeuropeantaste.eu cleaned, along with doorknobs, the bathrooms, et cetera,” Wood says.

THE EUROPEAN UNION SUPPORTS CAMPAIGNS THAT PROMOTE HIGH QUALITY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.

Serah Morrissey (above), senior director of human resources for InterContinental Hotel Minneapolis St. Paul Airport and president of CHART, an association of hospitality trainers, agrees. “The most important way that hotels and restaurants can obtain, earn or protect loyalty is all through safety and cleanliness precautions,” she says. “Give every single, visual cue you can give your guests that this is this is the cleanest place you’ll ever be.” That might also include signage, providing an overabundance of hand sanitizer, requiring staff to wear masks and gloves and closely following sanitation and safety guidelines offered by the CDC and other governing bodies.

Wood suggests chefs and restaurateurs communicate about these new safety measures like they would with their use of farm-to-table ingredients.

“Talk about what you are doing on your menu, in signage and on your website –consumers will appreciate it.”

Accuracy and Words Matter

While higher-touch service and more interactions with the server and front of house staff used to equate better service, that’s been replaced with limited interactions for the protection of everyone. More now than ever, accuracy has become of the utmost importance. “Guests don’t want to continuously call servers back to the table; it has to be perfect and accurate on the first try,” says Patrick Yearout (below), director of innovation and training for Ivar's and Kidd Valley restaurants out of Seattle. “The same goes for takeout orders. It’s a huge pain—and riskier—for anyone to have to return their food order these days if there is a problem. Instead, they’ll just find a different restaurant to go to versus coming back and giving that spot another try.”

That limited interaction also means fewer words, so what hosts, servers and even drive-thru attendants say needs to be impactful. James Ledbetter, a corporate field trainer for Galardi Group, Inc., the parent company of Weinerschnitzel, The Hamburger Stand and Tastee Freeze, has emphasized the importance of this to his franchisees. “The greeting becomes of the utmost importance; it sets the tone for the entire experience,” he says. Ledbetter encourages employees to have short conversations through their masks, keeping in mind that “this may be the only connection they have outside of their family in a day.”

Morrissey agrees, and trains her employees to “keep their voice steady and empathetic” even if customers may be frustrated by some of the new safety measures.

Many restaurants are expressing their gratitude through written words as well. “Include little notes of gratitude with meals for take-out, and personal sentiments for your longtime customers,” Yearout suggests. At Suzy’s Swirls, Wood follows a similar sentiment, creating special birthday packs with confetti cannons and personalized notes. “You can do meaningful things that don’t cost a ton of money,” she says. “Have your staff wave at pickup, draw a smiley face on a bag, or acknowledge a special occasion.” These days, every little show of gratitude and positivity counts.

Samantha Lande is a freelance writer based in Chicago. Her work has appeared in Food Network, Chowhound, Time Out and other local and national publications.

Creativity Can’t Hurt

Restaurants around the world are trying out new ways to fill in the gaps of hospitality with creative – sometimes even outlandishsolutions. Take a look.

• The Inn at Little Washington, a three-Michelin star restaurant at the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge mountains, is following their mantra of their restaurant as a “living theatre” and dressing up mannequins in “post-war” style to fill the dining room, lighten the mood and give something for people to talk about and photograph.

In Traverse City Michigan, Trattoria Stella, has been putting paper bags with handwritten notes under the place settings, encouraging diners to store their masks there while they eat.

• At Mediamatic Etan in Amsterdam, parties of two can eat by the water in little enclosed pods that resemble greenhouses.

At Fish Tales in Ocean City, Maryland, diners can eat in giant bumper tables, which look like huge inflatable inner tubes that do their job keeping distance between patrons.