How to Take Care of Your Bar, Restaurant or Brewery During a Lockdown

Despite the fact you need to close due to safety and health concerns, there are still methods to serve your clients during the COVID-19 outbreak.

It is not a secret that social distancing is bad for small businesses, even though it is good for ordinary people to stop the spread of the coronavirus. More and more clients self-quarantine and stay home, dropping the food traffic.

However, this does not mean that it is impossible to get profit even during the pandemic. For instance, if you advertise your business online, you will not be worried about the impact of the COVID-19 and keep your customers.

 Nevertheless, even using bar management tips, the advertising of your small business online must be safe for both the staff and clients. It is strongly recommended to use VeePN to access websites. By using a free trial, you should unblock any websites with the help of a VPN. There are various sites to unblock websites, but you should choose the one that seems to be the most suitable for you to be protected.

Check out the main tips to keep your clients and employees engaged during the epidemic outbreak:

1. Do operational changes to improve public health.

 If you wonder, “Should masks be worn in bars and restaurants during COVID-19?” the answer is yes. Moreover, you should try to eliminate the touchpoints to a bare minimum at your establishment.

• Minimize the number of staff that handles drink and food orders.
•  Offer to order things online.
• Wrap all straws individually and leave the clients to unwrap them.
• Give extra exposure to your food menu.
• Try to avoid using cash, implementing Google Pay or Apple Pay.
• Make sure the staff members wear gloves at all times.
• Ensure all staff is masked up to prevent your clients from a potential risk of being infected.
• Train your staff to manage the safety and health of your employees and customers.
• Explain the necessity of sanitizing to staff.
• Monitor your employees’ health and make sure your staff does not come back to work with symptoms.
• Utilize safety precautions and social distancing.
• Make menu modifications to properly manage the inventory cost.
• If your restaurant or bar features shareable plates, make sure they are split individually onto 4 different plates, but no more.
• Set up an open concept kitchen for your clients to see how the food is being cooked.

2. Avoid contamination and expect more cleanliness.

 You might ask, “Are cloth masks effective in preventing coronavirus disease?” and the answer is “Yes.” So you should communicate it and update training procedures with the staff as much as possible. Make sure that every member of your staff understands how important it is for your business to stick to a better level of cleanliness.

• Show and encourage sanitation by your staff.
• One of the bar owners’ tips is to pay more attention to menus, door handles, and places which are regularly touched by clients.
• At the bottom of public restrooms, you should install foot pulls for clients to use their feet when opening the door.  
• Make sure the salad bars and snack stations are accessible to clients.
• Utilize stein glasses for coverage of the glasses’ liquid while it is served or carried by the staff.
• Ensure your dishes are covered on their way from the kitchen to a table.
• Sanitize pens or utilize one-time use pens with your slogan, name, or logo.
• Utilize see-through plastic dividers.
• Make sure all the condiments at the bar or table are in individual packaging to eliminate the spread of germs.

3. Promote social distancing and adjust the restaurant capacity.

Eliminate and limit the clients’ numbers inside to be put in place so that your restaurant must not open at a full capacity.

• Ask someone from your team to monitor the number of people who enter.
• Block off every other seat in the bar area to keep clients far away from each other.
• Separate your bar area for ordering only.
• Try to organize the table set up inside the restaurant.
• Have separate exit and entrance doors.
• Communicate with the landlord concerning the diminishing of your rent possibility.
• Use booking tools to control customer flow.
• Organize your events online by putting a virtual spin.

4. Make adjustments if you are a self-pour business.

Note that it is much easier to manage social distancing and displaying sanitation if you have a self-pour business. Check out the following tips to sparkle and inspire some ideas:

• Utilize traditional tap handles instead of using nice customized tap handles that are complicated to disinfect and clean.
• Add glove station, wet wipes, and tissue.
• Make sure the beverage wall is safe for your clients to utilize.
• Dedicate a staff member to beer wall attendance.
• Use far-UVC lights because they feature a huge impact on the COVID-19 spread.
• Have a drink menu that is visible.
• Utilize the signage that limits the number of people near the beverage wall to ensure they are spaced properly.
• Implement signage that signals the clients’ direction to avoid social distancing rules’ breaking.
• Utilize graphics that encourage the new glass’ use.
• Try marking the floor in the check-in area with the help of white chalk to indicate the place the clients are standing.

5. Reopen checklist for restaurants and bars.

It might be such a demanding and complicated task. However, if you use our tips, you will ensure you will not forget anything:

• Prepare the table in a proper way, making sure there is a hand sanitizer, napkins, and the silverware is brought in a mug or a cup to the table.
• Wait for the clients to leave before clearing the plates.
• Offer the clients to pack the food to go by themselves.
• Shift to consuming food and drinks outside.
• Install plastic tents in your outdoor seating part.
• To keep your clients warm, heat and cover outdoor dining.
• Generate a specific cocktail menu to warm your clients.
• Create a fun client order form to be passed to the staff on the sheet of paper.
• Offer your adult clients to generate their own cocktails.
• Update the website’s business and send newsletters frequently.