The President and CEO of the BC Restaurant and Food Services Association said it will likely be June 1st before you can have a sit-down meal at your favourite restaurant.
Ian Tostenson and a team of 55 industry owners and managers have developed a blueprint that needs approval from WorkSafe BC.
While they are awaiting the thumbs up, Tostenson explained what some of the changes may include.
“It’s the first step, and you’ll likely see things like six feet between tables and three feet between chairs and you’ll see some disciplines around washrooms making sure people aren’t just getting up and creating a group but are separated and having a lot of fun.”
He adds you may see some kitchen staff that are isolated and you likely won’t see your server wearing a mask because they will all be temperature checked every time they come into work.
However, Tostenson left the door open for smaller establishments to re-start earlier.
“It’s possible some smaller restaurants could go sooner but the point we want to make sure the public understands is that we don’t want to do this until we’re ready from a public safety point of view and also from a public confidence point of view.”
Tostenson states their organization is in talks with the government to put a cap on the commission delivery services like Skip the Dishes are charging to restaurants.
“The big ones like Skip the Dishes and Uber Eats are charging anywhere from 25 to 30% to a restaurant to deliver the food and there is no money in that, in the United States they capped that at 15% temporarily so we’re hoping that comes into play in British Columbia.”
He added while social distancing is a tough task for restaurants, especially with the 50% capacity model being undertaken during the pandemic, the use of outdoor patios could prove to be advantageous during this time.
“We’ve got a lot of asks out within the municipalities to really go liberal with patios. Money goes into the restaurants in Prince George that expand their business out in the patio as streams that aren’t being used to really get people outside and patios are a great way to make it easier to social distance.”