There has been a significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the hospitality industry, which will definitely affect the operations of the business, specially the safety measures that need immediate modification. Now since the government is considering reopening all restaurant outlets, the importance of promoting safety measures at the workplace has taken priority. Moreso the operations are to begin outdoors first, it is important that every restaurant consultant should be aware of the norms of making your business a COVID safe workplace. With the extent of scare the pandemic has spread throughout the country, your guests would still feel apprehensive about freely visiting hospitality venues. Therefore, promoting your hospitality premises becomes essential to help your customers be at ease when they visit your restaurant.
We shall now discuss why health and safety is important in hospitality as well as catering, and the different ways you can promote safety in your business. Every restaurant consultant should learn the methods of risk management, when it concerns the COVID-19 hazards.
Importance of Health and Safety in Hospitality
Hospitality businesses have been following health and safety laws and principles of HACCP long before the COVID-19 pandemic as they have laid utmost importance to health and safety. Restaurant consultants should ensure the safety and health of their employees as well as customers.
All hospitality businesses should maintain efficient cleaning and handling practices, along with good hygiene methods. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the hospitality industry follow crucial practices that can help prevent bacteria from spreading to food
There is a great deal of apprehension in people about the safety norms when returning to hospitality venues, therefore it is the duty of the restaurant consultants to ensure that high standards of health and safety are met to help potential customers feel at ease about returning. The Customer Sentient Tracker from KAM Media has said that 94% of people who have visited hospitality mediums since 2020 feel confident in safety measures to return once the health and safety norms are set in place.
Ways to Ensure My Hospitality Business is COVID-Secure
It is necessary that before you open your hospitality business, build up measures that can be implemented to protect your customers and staff members, first of all by conducting a thorough risk assessment, which can help in identifying areas of concern and build up solutions to
overcome them and ensure the safety of everyone. You can avail a free risk assessment template though every establishment will have its own risks that are area specific, in which case alterations can be made accordingly. Therefore it is the duty of hospitality consultants to set up certain steps that will help customers to be COVID-safe, first and foremost having high standards of personal hygiene among employees.
Hospitality consultants should ensure that the staff who are unwell stay not remain in the premises, and teach staff to speak up in these situations since their presence in the premises could be a risk factor to other people.
Enhanced Cleaning Procedures
Remember that regular and efficient cleaning procedures should be second nature to your staff and establishment since the continued threat of COVID-19 demands some extra steps to be put in place to ensure everyone’s safety. Hospitality consultants should conduct a deep clean of the premises while you check the stock available. Create a cleaning plan to keep your business running smoothly as well as safely.
Social Distancing
The onset of COVID-19 pandemic had brought about strict laws that enforces hospitality consultants to manage their customers at your venue in the right way. You could start with placing a staff member at the entrance so that the safety norms can be followed effectively.
Your restaurant premises should have a separate and clear entrance and exit . A hospitality venue is usually opened on an outside-basis only while other areas are blocked. Customers will not be able to enter the building unless it is for using the washroom.
Staff might need to continue wearing a face mask at all times and customers too until they do not sit down at a table. Contact between customer and staff should be totally avoided. Social distancing has to be thoroughly followed along with other guidelines recommended by the government.
Tips on Promoting Safety in Hospitality
We discussed different ways to implement safety measures in the hospitality business. Next is how well you can promote that your business is following the safety norms. We can now list the ways to promote your business:
- COVID Safe Policies – To ensure that your venue is following the government set health and safety guidelines that are COVID safe, you should display this on your website. Once you have clearly displayed these guidelines, it will help put potential customers at ease, giving them enough confidence that you are committed to keeping the venue safe. Posters could be put up to remind staff and customers to sanitize their hands at regular intervals and also maintain social distancing.
- Contactless Payments – The method of cashless payments limits the interaction between your customers and employees to a large extent. This also reduces the risk of spreading the virus, keeping everyone safe. Promoting this would definitely show to customers that you are implementing the measures to protect their safety. This cashless way of payment is an efficient way of processing transactions. If you are offering a click and collect option for your business, it is best to set up the website to receive payments online as an alternative to customers paying by cash. Ensuring that your venue has safety measures in place will definitely increase the confidence of your customers when they arrive at your venue.
- Social Media – The remarkable tool today that can be used to your advantage to promote the safety of your hospitality business is social media. Post regular updates on your social media platform as it is an efficient and effective way of keeping your customers to know what you are upto. Posting simple pictures can reassure your customers that your venue is safe to return. Social media can also be used as a platform to showcase new ideas that you could implement in your business at a later date. These new ideas would keep your customers excited to experience those new ideas. Social media can have endless possibilities to promote your hospitality business.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a remarkable effect on the hospitality business, and now the government has announced its plans to slowly reopen venues over the coming months. The pandemic situation has been so serious that it is natural that customers are apprehensive about coming back to hospitality venues. Therefore it is mandatory that you show your guests that your venue is COVID safe by promoting as much as you can over social media or cashless payments.
