The Covid-19 virus has severely affected the restaurant industry globally. Dine-in facilities have been shut down, and customers are taking all possible precautions to prevent the transmission of this deadly virus. Malls and restaurants in Dubai are partially reopening, but food outlets have been advised to operate with reduced occupancy of only 30 percent. Even after easing the restrictions, as many as 18 restaurants, cafeterias, and food establishments were closed for violating public safety laws and for not complying with the precautionary measures. Along with ensuring proper hygiene while delivering food, there are some significant safety measures that restaurant operators in the UAE must adopt to keep their establishments safe amidst the pandemic.
Effective Measures That Will Help Restaurateurs In The UAE To Deal With The Pandemic
Mentioned below are some of the effective safety measures UAE restaurant operators must take to prevent the spread of Coronavirus and keep their restaurant safe.
1. Encourage The Use Of Face Masks And Gloves
Whether it is your kitchen staff, delivery executives, or restaurant suppliers, encourage the practice of wearing masks and gloves. Monitor your team to make sure everyone is following the necessary protocols such as wearing good quality masks, cooking, and handling kitchen equipment while wearing gloves and sanitizing their work stations on a regular basis. Remember to provide your delivery personnel with masks and gloves at all times during their shifts.
2. Ensure Hygiene Standards
In an interim report on Covid-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that consumers, as well as businesses, perform hand hygiene frequently, follow proper respiratory etiquette recommendations, and regularly sanitize and disinfect the surfaces they come in contact with.
The global health agency also emphasized the importance of maintaining social distancing to limit community transmission. Make sure that your staff takes all the precautionary measures in maintaining personal hygiene and disinfects the kitchen area to prevent contamination.
3. Look After Your Staff’s Health
While dropping sales are a big concern, a more significant concern and responsibility is to take care of your restaurant staff. Now is the time to re-evaluate your restaurant’s emergency handling policy, make a contingency plan, and prepare an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) in case one of your staff members falls sick.
One recommendation that employers worldwide must comply with is to send back their employees home, in case they show signs of the disease. If any of your staff is found symptomatic, take immediate action, sanitize your entire restaurant, and provide paid leave so that employees can quarantine themselves without worrying about loss of pay. This will .boost their morale and help you show your support.
4. Focus On Food Delivery
The Covid-19 pandemic has lead to a substantial decrease in the overall sales and revenues of restaurants worldwide. At such a crucial stage, restaurants cannot afford to ignore the food delivery trend and must focus on improving their delivery system. This would compensate for revenue losses and decreased sales to a certain extent. However, in the quest to reach out to more customers via doorstep delivery, make sure that your restaurant is following recommended hygiene practices while handling and packaging food items.
The pandemic has taken a toll on the global economy as a whole, and the restaurant industry is no exception. As the UAE is showing signs of recovery and restaurant operations are being slowly reopened, foodservice operators must be more careful than ever in adhering to the food laws to help revive their business and win back the trust of customers.
