Hospitality Reopening Guidance and What it Means to Chefs’ Forum Members
The long-awaited guidance on restaurant, hotels, accommodation and leisure businesses reopening has now been published in readiness for the 4th July.
We have seen varying reactions overnight to Boris Johnson’s announcement yesterday. Some restaurants welcoming it with open arms, others worried about the short time frame to get everything ready for a Covid-secure return and the remainder making announcements that they were going to wait a bit longer to see what happens before deciding to reopen.
Suppliers too have met the announcement with mixed feelings, as many haven’t been paid since February and are now expected to continue supplying accounts that have fallen behind with payments.
For our Colleges, the news has been very well-received indeed. Denise Charles, Head of Curriculum for Service Industries at West London College said
“This is fabulous news. Personally, I’m looking forward to going out to dinner again – I have really missed this during Lockdown. Hopefully this means that when College fully-reopens in September, our students can go into a realistic working environment once more and we can look forward to welcoming industry experts from The Chefs’ Forum Academy back into the college to deliver guest lectures and masterclasses as part of our curriculum enrichment programme.”
The report, which can be found here, contains advice around social distancing for workers, cleaning, PPE, face covering and managing customers.
On the introduction of table service, the report encourages the use of contactless ordering from tables where possible, for example through an ordering app.
It suggests “adjusting table service approaches to minimise staff contact with customers” and states: “Indoor table service must be used where possible, alongside measures such as assigning a single staff member per table. Outdoor table service should also be encouraged, although customers are permitted to stand outside if distanced properly.”
The Chefs’ Forum has been working with Yoello an online ordering system that completely meets contactless ordering guidelines. Get in touch today to see how Yoello can fit into your existing system from as little as £1.30 per day. Click here for more information.
Yoello Non-Executive Director, Scott Waddington (ex CEO of SA Brains) said
“The hospitality industry has been one of the worst affected sectors owing to the Covid-19 crisis and resulting social restrictions. The sector is responsible for employing millions of people whose jobs are now in serious jeopardy, particularly as the industry is amongst the last to be able to resume operating. Yoello’s mission has always been to be at the forefront of helping the hospitality sector innovate through technology. We are now able to provide the sector with the urgent support that it needs.”
Where bar or counter service is unavoidable, operators are asked to prevent customers from remaining at the bar or counter after ordering.
Jason Mead, Director at Hyde & Co Group in Bristol has adopted Yoello at his larger sites with outdoor areas, set to be reopened on the 4th July, he said
“At the same time as we’re looking forward to reopening, we realise that the whole service experience is going to be very different indeed. We will be releasing a manifesto outlining our planned changes and adaptations to cope with new government guidelines. The benefits of the Yoello contactless ordering system are less contact between staff and guests, speed of ordering and paying, fewer physical menus and more opportunity to notify you of any news from our sites if you should choose to opt-in.”
Many other hospitality industry professi
onals have said that they are worried about the 4th July falling on the busiest night of the week for restaurants – A Saturday night!
We will be following the progress of all of our members through this period of adjustment and change and would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our friends, colleagues and sponsors all the very best as they move into this next chapter. Please get in touch if you would like help or advice on any element outlined in the article above.
YOELLO OFFER **Special Chefs’ Forum Member Discount** 20% OFF for 12 Months – Enter the code CFORUM20 in the CONTACT form HERE and Yoello will be in touch!
Yoello are offering a FREE guide on re-opening your business safely with mobile ordering – click here
