Overseas Restaurants Break Out New Norms
New practices will include stepped-up safety procedures, social distancing and cleaning.
May 05, 2020 | 3 min read
CHICAGO—As the United States begins to reopen, many retail stores and restaurants are looking overseas for indications as to how the “new normal” may look at home.
According to Business Insider, McDonald’s is preparing to reopen U.S. dining rooms soon, and customers will see changes designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The chain recently tested new features at a Netherlands location, including meal trolleys and designated waiting spots to separate customers. “These are drastic changes, but we hope to make them in a way that customers don’t notice them too much,” said a McDonald’s spokesperson.
The burger giant already has already made 50 in-store changes or additions, the spokesperson said, including wellness checks for employees, installing protective barriers, social distancing floor decals indicating where customers should stand and providing thermometers to restaurants. When McDonald’s restaurants reopen in the Netherlands, customers will need to stay 1.5 meters or five feet away from each other.
McDonald’s is considering the use of trolleys to roll out table service to customers where they can pick up their order instead of directly interacting with employees. Under current plans for Netherlands stores, McDonald’s would be able to serve about 66% of its normal number of customers.
Meanwhile in China, where citizens are slowly resuming a normal life and dining out, restaurants have made big changes, reports Business Insider. Similar to those in the Netherlands, temperature checks, caps on restaurant capacity and social distancing markers have become the norm in many places, and these changes may indicate what lies ahead for U.S. eateries.
In Hong Kong, restaurants are required by government order to keep customer capacity below 50% and restrict groups to four people only. Restaurant owners who don’t play by the rules risk being fined as much HK$50,000 ($6,450 USD) or face six months in jail. Hong Kong restauranteurs are also required to keep a 1.5-meter space or more between each table to minimize crowding. Many have taped together tables and chairs to indicate which seats are off limits.
Similar restrictions are likely in the U.S., reinforcing the social distancing standards with floor markers like those currently being used in supermarkets and other stores to keep shoppers at a safe distance.
In Hong Kong, temperature checks for both workers and customers are mandatory on arrival and at the point of leaving the restaurant. In the U.S., temperature checks haven’t been advised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but they are becoming more common in restaurants.
Of course, rigorous hygiene routines are vital in encouraging customers to come back into restaurants. In Hong Kong, Black Sheep Restaurants cofounder Syed Asim Hussain said that employees are required to wash their hands and sanitize the tables used by customers every 30 minutes. Every 10 days, they also do a deep clean. Under Hong Kong regulations, restaurants must make hand sanitizer available to both guests and workers. Masked servers and diners have become the norm in Asia. In Hong Kong, restaurant customers are required to wear a mask in a restaurant when they are not eating or drinking.
The National Restaurant Association, which represents over 380,000 restaurants in the U.S., published a set of guidelines in April to give restaurants guidance about reopening and recommended that masks be worn even if they are not mandated by local governments.
NACS has compiled resources to help the convenience retail community navigate the COVID-19 crisis. For news updates and guidance, visit our coronavirus resources page.
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