Dining out in the 1.5-meter economy: this is what you can expect
Slowly but surely, everyone is beginning to realize that going out as we know it really is over. Because in the ‘new normal’, we are expected to keep one-and-a-half meters apart and yes, that means sitting next to an empty bar stool and taking your food from a trolley.
The hospitality industry will remain closed until 28 April 2020 in any case. It is not yet clear when we will finally be able to dine out again or sit on a terrace, but hospitality entrepreneurs are already working en masse on how we will do that. Because by now, everyone is convinced that the one-and-a-half-meter economy will become the new reality for the hospitality industry.
1.5-meter hospitality
The 1.5-meter hospitality industry has been the subject of intense speculation on several hospitality forums for weeks. Because how on earth will things work then? Naturally, the new way of going out will have consequences for table arrangements. Fewer tables, more distance between tables, plastic screens between tables; these are just some of the things you can think of.
Aside from the table arrangement, will we only be able to order via QR codes, will we have to get our dishes from a trolley? Or collect them from a central pickup point? Bring our empty plates to the dishwashing area? Will there be security at the toilets? Will disinfectant be everywhere? Will the staff wear face masks? Questions, questions… And above all, a great deal of uncertainty still. Yet there are also entrepreneurs who are already renovating their restaurants for this new reality, such as restaurant Luden in The Hague.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-wch5mgKEI/
Social Distance Dinner
Restaurant In den Doofpot in Leiden has already undergone a complete transformation. Naturally, there is more space between the tables, but that is not enough. Because being served at the table is not possible in the one-and-a-half-meter economy, at the ‘new’ In den Doofpot you can expect contactless service during your, as they themselves call it (rather uninvitingly), ‘Social Distance Dinner’, and you will also have to cooperate a little – no, you do not have to do the washing-up, but you will have to hang up your own coat. In a video on Instagram, they show what dining out at In den Doofpot will look like.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-7YteQDrtH/
A look into the kitchen
It will not only be different at the front of house; things will also change in the back, in the kitchen. Because the 1.5-meter distance applies here too. Michelin-starred chef Jacob Jan Boerma told Misset Horeca that he is considering a different logistics setup. ‘We will prepare one dish per section. Otherwise, it is very difficult to plate dishes with 1.5 meters between the chefs. That will also require some organizational changes from the chefs. Perhaps we will work with one menu. ‘For the costs, but also for the safety of the employees.’
And apart from fixed menus, it is highly likely that we will not be able to order just anything either. Fish will not be fully available, and flour and yeast are already becoming scarce.
More expensive?
In the meantime, I do wonder how hospitality businesses can possibly be profitable in the one-and-a-half-meter economy. Because fewer guests = less revenue. Or, as Robèr Willemsen, chairman of Koninklijke Horeca Nederland, simply calculates in Entree Magazine: ‘In a café of 70 to 80 square meters, where there would normally be a hundred guests, there are suddenly fourteen people. Your revenue then drops by at least six times.’ I also cannot see tourism picking up again quickly, so that means a huge financial blow for many hospitality businesses that depend largely on tourists for their revenue, especially in Amsterdam. So when we can dine out again, do not be surprised if everything has become considerably more expensive. The margins have to come from somewhere…
In any case, Brasserie van Dam is already getting ready for when they are allowed to reopen:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_CfMZjB19o/?igshid=15c1oe3ty1oys
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