FOOD & DRINK GOING TOUCH-FREE
What can be done to limit the amount of hand contact people have with surfaces, plates and utensils when eating out? Jeremy Bennett of Tork manufacturer Essity, considers how far a restaurant can go touch-free during a global pandemic.
Eating out is very much a sensory experience. The décor and ambiance of a restaurant will contribute to the diner’s first impressions, while an attractive-looking meal will stimulate the taste buds.
Our sense of smell is also hugely important, since any fragrant aromas emanating from the kitchen will serve to whet our appetite. Background music will add to the atmosphere and help us to relax and enjoy our meal. And of course, our sense of taste is pivotal when dining out.
But our fifth sense is arguably less crucial to our overall restaurant experience. This is a good thing – particularly during a global pandemic - since the act of touching surfaces in public places and eating food with the hands could help to spread the virus.
It is hard for staff and customers to avoid touching food, utensils and surfaces in a restaurant. However, a certain amount of hand contact can be avoided simply by rethinking the way we do things.
For example, it is traditional for waiting staff to greet customers at the door and show them to their table, perhaps pulling out their chair and handing them a menu. But diners are perfectly capable of seating themselves – particularly if they have booked in advance and their table is clearly marked with a sign bearing their name.
Once the customer is seated, any initial contact with staff members can be avoided by ordering via an app – a practice that has become increasingly common during the pandemic.
Restaurant and bar apps allow customers to browse the food and drink options through their smartphones and then place an order without having to speak to a staff member or leave their table. Not only does this reduce the amount of interaction between diners and waiting staff, it also cuts out the need for handling a well-thumbed menu.
Once the venue has received the customer’s app order, a team member will bring it to the table. In some cases, food or drink will be brought on a tray and the customer will be asked to retrieve their own glasses or plates for added safety. However, where trays are not used there is inevitably a risk of cross-contamination.
One restaurateur in the US has tackled this issue by designing a tool aimed at reducing contact between the server’s hand and the customer’s plate.
Thumbs Off! is the brainchild of Christian Valvo who owns a chain of restaurants in Atlanta. The silicon device provides a cover for the server’s thumb while a tab beneath the plate prevents any hand contact between the plate and the server’s fingers. The device can be washed in a dishwasher after use.
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Some restaurants are taking additional steps to minimise the level of contact between staff and customers by deploying ‘robot waiters’. A recent TikTok video of a ‘Servi’ robot handing out pancakes to customers in a US Denny’s quickly went viral, while ‘Bellabot’ robots are becoming increasingly common in Australian restaurants.
These bring food to the table, lighting up as they do so to indicate that the customer should take his or her plate. The diner then clicks the “finish” button on the robot’s touchscreen to send it back to the kitchen.
Meanwhile the White Fox restaurant in Mosul, Iraq, has virtually dispensed with waiting staff altogether and now uses robot servers to bring meals that are ordered via interactive tables.
So, it is perfectly possible to reduce the level of touch involved when serving restaurant customers. But it is much harder to do so when actually preparing meals.
Behind the scenes in the kitchen, chefs will be handling the ingredients and dressing diners’ plates by hand. Here, too, a number of touch-free kitchen aids have recently become available such as an automated frying arm called Flippy and Picnic, a robot designed for topping pizzas.
“The White Fox restaurant in Mosul, Iraq, has virtually dispensed with waiting staff altogether and now uses robot servers to bring meals that are ordered via interactive tables.”
But some hand contact between chefs and foodstuffs is inevitable which means frequent hand washing and regular sanitising needs to be practised.
Back at the table, most diners will be eating with forks, knives and spoons so these utensils should be kept clean and handled as little as possible by staff. However, some food items are eaten with the hands such as bread rolls, seafood and sandwiches.
Here, the provision of hand sanitiser on the tables will help to reassure the customer and provide an added level of safety. But hand washing is also important – and this can only be carried out in the restaurant washroom.
However, the washrooms themselves pose infection risks. Diners will be coming into contact with taps, door handles and washroom dispensers – all of which will have been touched by other customers before them.
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