Top 5 things to consider while re-opening dine-in restaurants

Re-opening restaurants for dine-in services in Canada will require careful planning by operators, given capacity limitations, new health and safety measures, and disrupted supply chains.

We recommend that restaurants consider the following 5 actions as they plan for re-opening dine-in services:

1. Determine which restaurants and when to re-open dine-in services, once permitted, given anticipated capacity limitations, availability of outdoor dining space, lower expected demand, additional costs, and strategic & operational considerations.
   
2. Identify layout and operational changes for customer safety, including considerations for distancing, protective barriers, outdoor seating, disposable or digital menus, staggered reservations, and guest party registration, amongst others.
   
3. Plan enhanced cleaning and sanitization, by creating checklists and procedures for all items to be regularly sanitized (e.g., credit card PIN pads after each use, door handles and washrooms cleaned frequently, etc.).
   
4. Adjust both front- and back-of-house operations for employee safety, which may require changes to reduce movement and contact during food preparation and hand-off.
   
5. Assess simplified menus, given changes to back-of-house operations, which may result in reduced staff in kitchens.

For details on practices leading global restaurant operators are pursuing on each of these topics, and many others, please download the 2nd edition Road to Retail Recovery Playbook, the essential recovery planning guide developed by Retail Council of Canada in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group. We’ve created a section dedicated specifically to reopening Malls & Food Courts so you can more easily share this information with your teams.