HOW TO FOLLOW A ZERO CONTACT SCHEDULE IN YOUR DINE-IN RESTAURANT?

 The futuristic tomorrow is here much faster than any of us could have anticipated it to be. With the term, new normal getting older by the day and becoming a reality of life, restaurants are now preparing to change the way their diners eat out. With contactless becoming the new buzzword of our times, restaurants are now pondering on solutions to make zero contact dine-in a reality.

Change being the only constant, the World Health Organization, FSSAI, and the government has issued some standard guidelines and protocols for all restaurants. These include mandatory temperature checks of customers and staff and ensuring the staff wearing masks at all times. Restaurants have now installed sanitizing stations at key touchpoints and layouts and seating have been rearranged to follow social distancing norms to ensure maximum safety of diners. The aim at the end of the day is to ensure that diners actually feel safe inside. It’s imperative to make a more noticeable effort with a social media post about the restaurant’s safety or even a hint of disinfectant in the air. The little things always go a long way.

But contactless dining shouldn’t and doesn’t stop there. According to the Economic Times, 81% of diners would prefer digital menus and payment methods instead of physical ones while dining out to decrease risk. Seamless wallet-based digital payment and digital menus are a new way forward. Petpooja marketplace services, for example, have been leading the way forward with services like captain ordering and QR codes for menus and payments, to ensure a seamless, and touch-free consumer experience.

The captain ordering app allows the staff to take orders and manage tables on their device instead of running around the restaurant to communicate orders, thereby avoiding unnecessary contact. Not only that, but the app also lets the staff upsell with a sophisticated food recommendation engine, increasing order values, and decreasing turnaround time as well.

Restaurants have also discarded physical menus and instead have QR codes on tables that diners can scan without installing any additional applications. This allows the diner to browse the menu, place an order, and make payments by using the QR code itself. The menu is one of the hundreds of touchpoints consumers go through right from the time they enter the restaurant, the QR code method has been nothing less than a godsend in this post-pandemic era to ensure minimum contact while also ensuring safety and giving the customer safe dining out experience.

Another way restaurants have adapted to reassure customers of hygiene and maintain accountability is to provide a live stream to the diner for them to see their food being prepared by the chef. After placing the order, the customer receives a link to a live feed of their food being prepared. This helps reassure the customer that their food is being prepared with the utmost care.

Practices like pre-booking tables and selecting from the menu on the tables were already established pre-pandemic and are likely to become more popular and a preferred option in the coming days. More permanent changes like providing sanitizers and wet wipes at the table along with ensuring more sanitary cutlery, to enhance customer experience is looking like the only way forward. A lot of restaurants are also experimenting with the idea of mandatory pre-ordering practices and the likes to figure out their way forward. Customers are of course the key to figuring out the path ahead but from the looks of it, the Dine-in restaurants are doing a pretty great job with brainstorming and coming up with new innovations in regard to ensuring safe dining out experience.

We hope all you restaurateurs are following the contactless din-in routine and at Petpooja we specially curated multiple products that will help you manage and follow this contactless routine without any hiccups. 

Take care- stay safe and go contactless!