After the long weekend, you’ll see plenty of restaurants, cafes and pubs across British Columbia opening their doors for the first time in weeks.
Phase two of BC’s restart plan allows for them to do so, but it’s not as simple as simply opening the doors and welcoming the public back in the same way they did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Restaurants must develop a COVID-19 safety plan and follow a number of guidelines set out today by WorkSafeBC to keep both employees and the general public as safe as possible.
For the food industry, it starts with the number of people allowed to dine together.
“Business resumption guidance from government in this phase permits friends and family to get together in small groups of two to six people, which means that restaurants should limit the number of people seated together to a maximum of six,” says WorkSafeBC.
“This means that in this phase of business resumption, restaurants will need to calculate how many tables of six will fit into their space, allowing for 2 metres between tables and factoring in space for seats at the table.”
The guidelines add that booths which provide physical distance barriers between tables will allow for more diners.
From there, they dive into general measures like avoiding physical contact, rearranging waiting areas, adding plexiglass where necessary, providing hand sanitizer and more.
A section of the guidelines covers table service and there’s a number of adjustments that will need to be made as customers return to sit-down dining.
There will be no buffets or other self-service amenities and guests will be expected to pour their own water and even disperse their own food.
“Have servers leave food and drinks at the front of the table and let guests pass them after the server has stepped away,” said
Restaurants are also advised to remove one chair per table to give servers a space to come to the table without having to squeeze between customers, similar to the open side of a booth.
Salt and pepper shakers and other similar items will be removed from tables and only provided if requested, and single-use options are encouraged as well.
There’s entire sections of guidelines for kitchen staff and delivery drivers as well.
You can find all this information and more on the WorkSafeBC website.
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