Restaurants are beginning to reopen and your guests are ready to get back to your delicious meals. Guests want to feel safe and assured that you’re taking the best precautions during COVID-19. We’ve taken a look at the National Restaurant Association guidelines for reopening and put together our quick tips for better restaurant hygiene. Your guests will know you’re taking the right steps and focus on enjoying their amazing dining experience.
Quick Tips for Your Restaurant Hygiene
Implement a hand-washing policy for staff
Make it a mandatory policy that hand washing should occur not only after using the restroom, but also after dropping off food, running credit cards, and making drinks. Reinforcing the importance of these hygiene measurements with your staff will also help them feel good about taking the extra time to follow precautions. Here are the recommendations from the National Restaurant Association:
1. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
2. If soap and water are not available, use a 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer per CDC.
3. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
Make sanitizing surfaces a priority
Create procedures for when and how to sanitize surfaces. This may take away from other side work such as folding napkins, restocking soda, or rolling silverware, but it will leave your guests assured they’re in good hands. This is a great time to have management help with other side work and show the staff that we’re all in this together.
Take employee health seriously
If a server says they aren’t feeling well, it’s best to advise them to stay at home. If their symptoms are consistent with COVID, they should follow CDC’s criteria to discontinue work and isolate at home. Provide staff with fresh masks and ask that staff wash their masks in between shifts. If you want to get creative, have masks made with your restaurant logo.
Mark it out
Create guides with tape or stickers on the floor and sidewalk so that guests can easily visualize six feet apart. This will not only help guests know exactly where to go, but also avoid traffic and confusion.
Go contactless
The less physical touch from guest to server, the better. As always avoid touching the prepared food with your hands and carry plates so that your hands and fingers are far away from the prepared food. In addition, get smart about how guests order from the menu. One option for getting rid of reusable menus is to print disposable menus, but this is an added expense to buy paper and it can still be unsanitary. With Table Needs your guests can scan a QR code with their phone and not only view the menu but order as well. When it’s time to pay the bill, that’s contactless too.
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