How to keep your restaurant (and your customers) free from coronavirus
Now that we’ve got all the doom and gloom out of the way, let’s talk about something optimistic: how to keep your customers safe and happy. It’s better to overreact than to underreact. “Wait and see how bad it gets” is for snowstorms, not for virus outbreaks. If you think you’re being too careful, you’re probably off to a good start.
At the time of this publishing, most dine-in options will be closed. However, if your dine-in area hasn’t been affected by a restaurant closure, start by doubling (or tripling) your cleaning routines. Do you wipe down the counters once each day? Make it once per shift. Do you have ordering kiosks? Wash them every 10 minutes. Better yet—wash them after each use. There are some things you won’t be able to do mid-day, like washing out the prep line, which brings us to the next item: hand washing.
Make sure your employees are washing their hands constantly. This cannot be stressed enough. As mentioned above, soap and water will literally kill the virus—not just prevent infection, but stop the spread in its tracks. It’s standard practice for food service employees to wash their hands when moving between tasks, but consider having them wash any time they have a few seconds between what they’re working on. Done prepping an order? Wash your hands. Handed the order to the customer? Wash your hands. Been a few minutes since you’ve washed your hands? Wash your hands. And when this is all over, buy each of your employees a nice bottle of hand lotion—because their hands should be thoroughly chapped from all that washing.
Beyond just washing hands, some QSRs, like Taco Bell, have mandated that even service personnel wear gloves typically worn by food production employees. Gloves are comfort for the employees and the guests, but not a replacement for washing/sanitizing hands frequently
The best advice for staying safe during a pandemic: pretend that everyone is carrying the disease (even if they aren’t showing symptoms), and pretend that everyone is at high-risk for complications.