Everyone has a role in keeping our local areas healthy in preventing the spread of COVID-19. Restaurant operators may notice a slowdown of customers as COVID-19 concerns rise, but make sure your patrons know your establishment is taking the precautions to keep them and employees safe.
Implement simple steps to support healthy work environments.
- Placing signage about covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing and hand washing at your restaurant’s entrances, exits, restrooms, and break areas.
- Supplying tissues, waste baskets, and hand sanitizer where employees typically gather.
- Placing disposable cleaning wipes where employees can frequently wipe down surfaces such as counters, doorknobs, phones, cash registers, etc.
Encourage employees to stay home when sick.
- Communicate your sick leave policy with your employees.
- Add flexible policies allowing employees who need to stay home to care for sick family members or children unable to attend school.
- Enforce any employees who have a fever or cough to go home immediately; only allowing them to return to work after 24 hours symptom free without the use of fever reducing medications.
- Train additional staff members capable of performing tasks of key personal that may become ill.
Promote Frequent Hand Washing.
- Wash hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds.
- Dry hands with paper towel and discard in the trash.
- Download and review hand washing protocol from the NRAEF with employees.
- Remember to wash your hands:
- After coughing or sneezing.
- After using the bathroom.
- When switching from preparing uncooked foods to cooked foods.
- After touching your face or hair
- After handling money or other forms of payment
- After handling dirty equipment/utensils.
- Whenever hands become dirty.
Restaurant Cleaning and Sanitization
- Cleaning and sanitizing are different. Cleaning with soap and water removes dirt from surfaces while sanitizing with chemicals or heat reduces germs to safer levels.
- Remote controls, kitchen counters, phones, tablets, bathrooms, door knobs, tables, chairs, and keyboards should be cleaned and sanitized most often since they are touched throughout the day.
- For best use, follow the instructions on your cleaner.
- Use disposable gloves while cleaning and sanitizing. Discard after use.
Ease Customers Minds
- Keep your restrooms continually stocked with soap, hand sanitizers, paper towels, and hand dryers.
- Clean and sanitize surfaces customers may come in contact with such as menus, condiments, and checkout surfaces.
- Your back-of-the-house staff should wear gloves as well as employees preparing/handling food in plain sight of customers.
- Educate your servers and managers of your restaurant’s daily front-of-the-house cleaning procedures so they can explain to customers if the need arises.
- Encourage employees to communicate with customers that any employees showing flu-like symptoms are instructed by ownership and managers to stay home.
- Prepare for an increase of delivery and pickup orders. If your restaurant is currently offering delivery or pickup service, order enough supplies (packaging, special menu items, delivery staff). Be prepared for when demands of these services increase.
While these are just a few helpful reminders, restaurant owners and operators should contact their local health departments for the latest advisories/information about coronavirus in their community. As your technology partner, Aegis Foundry is committed to supporting our restaurant operators who are taking precautions to keep employees and customers safe.