Restaurants are finally being allowed to reopen after nearly two and a half months. But it may be too soon to bring out the drinks and say Yay! The circumstances in which food and beverage outlets will open after the long lockdown stack the odds heavily against them. We so want restaurants to buzz again, flourishing and also giving people the social experience they desperately need after these months of isolation. But that scenario is unlikely to be realized easily.
For one thing, business hours are to be restricted. Going by the most recent government notices, they will have to shut down by 9 pm, which severely eats into the dinner business. Also, bars will not open. Will this mean that restaurants with an alcohol licence will have to remain shut? This has been the case during the various ‘dry’ days that are enforced from time to time. There is a lack of clarity – so what’s new? – about air-conditioning. In some states it is being said that only non-A/C restaurants can function from June 8.
In its response to the reopening of restaurants, the NRAI said, ‘We now await to engage with various State Governments to put together stringent safeguards to ensure safe environment for our consumers and employees… Keeping in mind that the business volume is expected to be very subdued for quite some period, it is very critical for landlords and operators to arrive at fresh commercial terms at the earliest. It will be most unfortunate if businesses don’t kickstart due to commercial stalemate. It must also not be forgotten that the current permitted hours of business is also very limited. We however hope they will get extended further in due course.’
The other daunting challenge for restaurants is to set up their spaces so that social distancing can be maintained. This definitely means reducing the number of covers and that’s going to throw previous business plans and numbers out of whack. While we’ve been seeing various ideas being tossed around, including plexiglass dividers and individual pods or bubbles for dining, we think these are, frankly, abominations. It should suffice to place tables sufficiently apart.
Many long-established practices will have to be replaced by new ways of doing things. Physical menus will have to go digital or be disposable. Tables cannot be set before guests arrive and sit down. Condiments on tables and centrepieces will have to go. There will have to be routines for cleaning and sanitizing cutlery, crockery and table linen. It’s a bad time to be recommending that restaurants spend on infrastructure, but foot-operated door openers, sensor taps and soap dispensers in washrooms could be useful additions at this time.
The kitchen poses another tangle of issues – from the health of food handlers to working while keeping social distance and sanitizing the hundreds of products received in the stores. The FSSAI has issued guidelines and chefs and kitchen managers will find their responsibilities become more onerous.
Then there is the huge task of training wait staff in these altered circumstances, from temperature checks to frequent hand-washing, new serving drills, maintaining minimum contact with customers and sanitizing surfaces between seatings. With a massive exodus of workers back to their home states restaurants will also grapple with staff shortages.
But by far the hardest thing is going to be to get customers to actually walk into restaurants when they reopen. We ran several polls and the numbers aren’t too encouraging. Of, say, 100 diners, 45 say they would visit restaurants once they open. For the majority, it’s a matter of waiting for a few weeks or months, till they feel more confident eating out. This, some say, has nothing to do with restaurants and their practices per se, but depends on how the curve rises or flattens.
Those people who said they would go to restaurants mentioned it would be to restaurants they ‘trust’. This is a hard thing to pin down, but restaurants that evoke trust are most likely those that are established, large brands and compliant and transparent small businesses. So, restaurateurs will have to devote time and effort to winning customer confidence in this time of crisis and it’s not going to be easy. Restaurants must find way to demonstrate that they are following prescribed protocols and guidelines.
Our guess and fervent hope is that less cautious customers will make the first visits. The rest will follow in the weeks and months to come. We are social beings. Our social nature has been the key to our survival and sense of well-being. And where better to be social, than at our favourite restaurants, over meals cooked and served with skill and warmth.
