In the UK, there are more than 26,000 restaurants, 8,000 food-led pubs and 6,300 cafés and wine bars that serve food. Being able to provide takeaway meals has provided a lifeline for business operators. Some of the restaurants sell takeaways through Deliveroo and Uber Eats, while others permit customers to order directly via a Click and Collect service.
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Extra precautions
Restaurants that are opting for a takeaway or delivery service are taking extra precautions and following the government guidelines. All employers should carry out a COVID-19 risk assessment and manage the potential hazards: they have a legal responsibility to protect employees, contractors, and customers from any health risks.
Part of the process involves consulting employees to check what they perceive as the main concerns and how they can be minimised. The Health and Safety Executive or the local authority can step in when necessary, if there are any issues to resolve.
Measures include ensuring social distancing is observed in the workplace, as staff must remain at least 2m apart when possible. Employees must also wash their hands and clean surfaces more frequently, use barriers or screens to separate staff from one another and work back-to-back, or side-to-side, rather than facing one another.
Working conditions
No-one is obliged to work in what they consider to be an unsafe working environment. Any activities carrying more risks, such as people working face-to-face for a long period, must be scrutinised to determine whether they are really necessary.
Contact between kitchen staff, front-of-house workers and delivery drivers must be minimised by introducing areas where the delivery staff can collect the already-packaged food items. People waiting to collect takeaways should have only limited access to the premises.
Markings should be clearly visible to show customers the two-metre distance that must separate people queueing outside. Customers should be asked to wait in their cars where possible.
Driver and customer safety
Customers are asked to order and pay online, via an app, on social media, or over the telephone, to avoid long queues. Pick-up times are staggered.
Delivery drivers are required to knock on the door to alert the customer their meal has arrived. They must leave the food package on the doorstep and walk away to a safe distance, waiting to make sure the householder has seen them and has taken their delivery indoors.
Businesses must also make regular announcements that remind employees and customers to follow the social distancing rules and wash their hands more often and very thoroughly.
Restaurant sector future
No-one really knows what the future will hold for the restaurant sector, mainly because it's impossible to say when the COVID-19 virus will start to disappear. Scientists can't say for sure when it will be safe to dine out again - or how long we'll need to practice social distancing in public.
The coronavirus crisis has forced everyone to adapt to new dining habits and it's not known when we'll be able to get back to anything resembling normality. Polls have revealed consumer behaviour might change in the longer term, impacting on restaurants, even after the coronavirus threat has eased.
Research by AMC Global shows that once the pandemic has passed, consumers will be less reliant on takeaways than they are now. While 33% of consumers say they’re currently buying more takeaways than before the pandemic, only 13% of respondents expect this behaviour to continue once the crisis has passed.
One-third of consumers are buying more fast food, but 45% are actually buying less, while the remaining 22% are buying the same amount. Being able to buy takeaways from more local food outlets has made consumers aware of their existence, with 38% of respondents saying they will continue to support local businesses after the pandemic ends.
Being stuck at home has made people cook more and 32% of those polled said they would be making more home-cooked meals in future, while 33% of respondents said they would be baking more.
The lockdown and the effect on jobs has made people more aware of their finances, with 40% of those surveyed saying they will continue to budget very carefully in future. This might mean less dining out.
The pandemic has made 25% of people drink more alcohol - but only 9% of them said they would keep up this high level of drinking once life returned to normal.
When might restaurants reopen?
Some fast-food chains, such as McDonald's, are already planning the staggered re-opening of their restaurants. Some branches reopened on 13th May, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson slightly eased some of the lockdown measures, but others won't be resuming business until June. Social distancing measures will have to be observed.
In his address to the nation on 10th May, the PM said some restaurants MIGHT be able to reopen to diners on 1st July, but he was uncertain, as it depended on whether the virus was still in decline and if health experts thought it viable.
An organised kitchen is a happy kitchen!
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