After more than a year of restaurant shutdowns, dining room closures and other challenges across the industry, operators are excited to be able to once again welcome their customers back in. Restrictions across the country are continuing to ease, and dining room capacities are returning to their pre-pandemic numbers. For operators and customers alike, it’s an invigorating time—after a full year of sticking mainly to off-premise dining, many guests are itching to visit their favorite spots and try new ones, and operators are ready to get back to providing memorable experiences and great food.
But things have undoubtedly changed since March 2020—people’s priorities for what they want in a restaurant have changed, and operators will need to be sure they’re rising to the occasion. Here are ways restaurants can welcome back dine-in guests and provide memorable experiences while still ensuring safety.
Space tables appropriately
Even as restrictions are lifted, many people may still feel somewhat reluctant to go back to dining indoors. For these customers, it’s important that restaurants emphasize the steps they are taking to ensure safety—for instance, spacing tables for more room between parties. According to the 2021 OpenTable research done in partnership with the James Beard Foundation, more than 70% of consumers say it’s extremely or highly important for restaurants to require diners to follow safety precautions, have staff wear personal protective equipment (PPE), space tables 6 feet or more apart or communicate strict cleaning policies. In other words, even if restrictions are lifted, operators should be mindful of safety suggestions set forth by the government when preparing to reopen. In fact, 37% of consumers say restaurants going above and beyond safety guidelines would encourage them to dine at a particular place.
Set up a comfortable waiting area
Similarly, operators should plan for an influx of onsite dining, including ensuring there is ample waiting room for hungry guests who are excited to be back. If there’s not much room inside, operators may consider setting up an awning or tented area to ensure customers have a comfortable waiting area out of the sun or rain. Capacity restrictions—though loosened—may still impact the number of people able to be seated at a given time, so it will be important for operators to have a streamlined way for guests to wait until their table is ready.
Consider reservation-only dining
To avoid the dissatisfaction that can stem from long wait times—not to mention the discomfort of having to wait in a crowded waiting area—operators may want to consider instituting reservation-only dining, at least for certain times of day when traffic is much higher, such as happy hour or the lunch rush. This way, operators can not only prepare ahead of time for how many people to expect, but they can also avoid having upset, dissatisfied customers who had to wait—or worse, guests who choose to leave altogether because the wait is too long. Using a platform such as OpenTable, for example, can help restaurants plan inventory needs, timing for seatings and more, ensuring that every guest who comes in has a great, safe experience with the hospitality they’ve missed.
To learn more about how OpenTable can enhance the guest experience in a post-pandemic restaurant world, click here.
This post is sponsored by OpenTable