The Covid-19 pandemic has changed a lot of things from both a personal and business perspective. With the whole world brought to a stand still, many hospitality venues were forced to reassess their outdoor dining policies and adopt safer ways to prevent the transmission of the Covid virus. If you own a restaurant, bar or café, this article will outline a few ways you can find the right balance between safe outdoor dining while implementing effective social distancing measures for your customers.
Keeping Your Guests Safe
One of the many rules introduced during the pandemic was the ‘staying 6 feet apart’ rule. The primary objective of this was to keep people far enough away from each other to help lower the risk of Covid-19 transmission when out in public. For many restaurant owners, introducing social distancing measures was quite effective at keeping both patrons and staff members safe.
Combined with wearing masks and general hand sanitisation, all of these methods were a step in the right direction. If you are implementing some of these basic principles in your outdoor restaurant and prioritizing the health of your customers, you are well on the road to creating a safe and enjoyable dining experience again.
Removing Self- Serve Areas
Whether it’s an outdoor water station, salad bar or buffet area, removing this option is just one of the many ways in which restaurant owners can help minimise the risk of Covid infection within their venue. Not only does this prevent customers from congregating in the one area, it eliminates the possibility of getting into an unwanted crowd situation.
With cross contamination, hand touching and germ spreading on everyone’s radar, it’s essential to find new ways to operate your existing business model that doesn’t negatively impact your overall profit and customer satisfaction. This may involve introducing personalised table service, as well as having chairs / tables at a comfortable distance to make diners feel more at ease.
Creating More Space
It’s not uncommon for restaurants to cram in multiple tables and chairs into a confined space to accommodate more customers. To ensure maximum safety and comfort, its imperative that tables and chairs are spaced six feet apart – providing adequate distance when eating and drinking. If you have long communal tables, you may want to consider introducing separate tables and chairs to give a greater sense of space when dining outdoors.
Ordering Food / Drinks Via QR Code Menus
This has become a new and effective way of ordering food without handling physical menus. This allows customers to get access to the restaurant menu by scanning a QR code through the camera app on their phone. It’s a quick and easy way to browse the menu, order and pay without moving from the comfort of your own table.
In summary, many hospitality venues have come up with many creative ways to keep their outdoor venues running successfully – while maintaining a comfortable outdoor dining experience for customers. JND Outdoor Furniture supplies a rage of quality furniture for restaurants, cafes and bars Australia wide.
To discuss your venue requirements, please don’t hesitate to give us a call on (03) 8577 6073 to have a chat about your needs.