Taste Swansea Food & Drink Magazine - Issue 14 - May/June 2020

Running A Restaurant During Social Distancing

Given the issues and government directives surrounding the Coronavirus and the need for socialdistancing, there is a very real prospect that as the country unlocks itself from isolation, thehospitality industry in particular will be told "you may open but you have to introduce socialdistancingmeasures". Here we examine what that could mean for your restaurant or cafe.

There's no doubt that COVID-19 took the whole of the hospitality industry by surprise and literally within a matter of hours of the Prime Minster's statement that restaurants could remain open but for the public not to visit them, the whole sector was thrown into the biggest crisis known. Customers cancelled bookings in their droves and restaurants' income went from healthy to zero overnight. Of course, some are not likely to survive. And it wasn't as if the industry was in a great state in the first place with numerous chains going to the wall. But having been taken by surprise once there is no necessity to be taken by surprise a second time.

The bare truth of the matter is that if you are one of the fortunate eateries which is likely to survive this crisis then you currently have plenty of time to prepare for re-opening and the potential complications that such could involve. There is a very distinct chance that the release from lock-down will be phased in and that the restaurants and big events will be the last sectors to be allowed to re-open. That said, there is also talk of extending the social distancing measures beyond the lock-down period. That therefore leaves you as a restaurateur with the dilemma of opening an eatery with the complication of having to

change the way you serve customers, in orderto avoid close contact. It also means that youmay have to remove tables and therebyreduce seating capacity in the restaurant, orallowing only a reduced number of covers into the premises at one time, or allowingcustomers a given time allocation per table inorder to turn over tables. In addition, how areyou to protect your staff?

Should restaurateurs have to adopt such unusual methods then there will undoubtedly be a hit on their income levels. We have already seen local shops allowing only one shopper in at a time in order to accord with social distancing and that has without doubt impacted on the income and profit levels of the businesses. For some, it may be a matter of offering buffet service, certainly in the shorter term, or introducing/increasing the takeaway and delivery model. This lock-down is certainly the right time to be addressing these issues. As a business, is social distancing in restaurants even feasible?

As a business, is social distancing in restaurants even feasible?