HOTELS & HOSPITALITY
prevent customers from criss-crossing with each other while entering and leaving. Smaller outlets found it difficult to reduce the number of covers without severely impacting on profits, so they used plastic sheeting or Plexiglass screens to separate the tables from one another.
Diners and drinkers were asked to remain seated at all times and were waited upon by visor-wearing servers, whilst apps were introduced to allow guests to order remotely, limiting the number of face-to-visor interactions they needed to have with staff members.
“Queues should be avoided since
these would encroach on the space outside and compromise the safety of staff and fellow customers.”
When reopening this time, many venues will still have their screen dividers and self-contained pods in place to facilitate the process. And of course, the end of the next lockdown is likely to coincide with long summer days and warmer weather which will allow venues to maximise their use of their outdoor seating areas.
After the 2020 lockdown, hospitality venues had to feel their way forward and deal with guests who were unwilling to wear masks, slow to socially-distance or who simply forgot about the rules. But nearly a year on we have all become more accustomed to the ‘new norm’ and it has become second nature for us to put on a mask whenever we enter a public building. Meanwhile, the fact that shops are now cracking down on customers who neglect to wear a face-covering will make it easier for hospitality venues to insist on masks for all customers.
A combination of outdoor drinking and dining, mask- wearing and more extensive use of apps will therefore hopefully make the 2021 hospitality comeback more straightforward than last year. However, the washrooms of pubs and restaurants continue to pose a problem.
It is inevitable that many drinkers and diners will need to use the toilet during a pub session or lengthy meal, and this usually involves coming into contact with other people in an enclosed indoor space where germs could easily spread.
Hospitality managers will need to be alert to this issue and come up with appropriate strategies. For example, one-way systems and clear signage will help to avoid any logjams, while removing the mirrors from the washrooms will prevent people from lingering there to apply make-up or do their hair.
Some venues might choose to leave the outer door to the washroom open so that diners and drinkers can tell at a glance whether anyone else is inside. Others might ask customers to indicate to the management when they need to use the toilet – and again, this could be managed via an app.
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The installation of portable toilets outside venues will increase the available washroom provision while also reducing the need for vulnerable people to enter the premises at all.
It is of course important that hospitality washrooms are kept scrupulously clean to reassure customers that they are safe. Queues should be avoided since these would encroach on the space outside and compromise the safety of staff and fellow customers.
Every effort should be made to ensure that washrooms are kept well stocked with soap and paper to aid hand hygiene and prevent the need for maintenance visits to be made during business hours.
High-capacity systems and smart technology can both help in this regard. Systems such Tork PeakServe Continuous Hand Towel Dispenser work well in busy washrooms because the unit holds more than 2,000 hand towels and it takes just three seconds for the user to access a towel and move away from the unit. Hand dryers were less successful in post-COVID washrooms because even the speediest model takes at least 10 seconds to dry the hands thoroughly, potentially creating a bottleneck and keeping the washroom occupied for longer than necessary.
“The end of the next lockdown is
likely to coincide with long summer days and warmer weather which
will allow venues to maximise their use of their outdoor seating areas.”
Tork Foam Soaps also work well in the COVID-19 era because each refill contains 2,500 shots of soap compared with around 1,000 in most liquid soap units. And smart systems that allow dispensers to be checked remotely - such as Tork EasyCube– have also proved to be invaluable. Once the need for physical checks on washroom dispensers has been removed, staff are able to keep on top of refill needs and ensure that dispensers never run empty. And the fact that cleaners’ visits to the washrooms are kept to a minimum helps to reduce cross-contamination while also aiding social distancing protocols.
The hospitality sector will continue to face challenges in keeping their premises both safe and welcoming until the vaccines are more widely rolled out. But they have already proven they have the ingenuity to do so. We can therefore hope to experience even more ingenious pub and restaurant solutions in 2021– and expect to use these venues safely – when life once again returns to the ‘new normal’.
www.tork.co.uk/torkcampaigns/reach-for-the-stars TOMORROW’S FM | 51
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