With the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the COVID – 19, otherwise known as the CoronaVirus, many markets around the world suffered from an inevitable blow because they had to shut down. However, restaurants and eateries have devised a new way that will allow them to stay afloat and to avoid layoffs.
Just like any worker in any other field, restaurant employees have their own jargon to communicate with. A cover to a restaurant employee means a customer, shopping is known as sourcing, and cocktails are known as cocktail programmes. Recently, an uncanny new term emerged in these businesses referred to as contactless delivery.
This concept came into the works in a simplistic manner. Kitchens prepare the food which is boxed up and sent to an address where it is quietly delivered by a gloved delivery person at the door.
This concept also promotes the ideas of social distancing and physical distancing where the customer and delivery man do not come in direct contact and they keep a safe distance apart from each other. Even though this is not the kind of service that the hospitality industry is familiar with, it is perhaps their only option to stay open and avoid laying off their entire staff.
Since there are no tables to host, waiters and waitresses have received new positions as kitchen staff, helping with all the necessities to keep the kitchen clean and working at full throttle. Other employees have been reassigned as contactless delivery workers and others operating a telephone for the first time in the restaurant.
Besides checking the temperature of the refrigerators, employees are also getting checked for fevers. Additionally, the personal hygiene of each employee is part of the hygiene routine of the entire restaurant. These safety protocols, in addition to contactless delivery and pickup, have been adopted to minimize the spread of COVID-19, especially to those of high – risk groups such as the elderly and individuals with weak immune systems.
The importance of the telephone during these times is to minimize the possibility of restaurant owners having to turn to layoffs. By maximizing the number of people that order over the phone, it minimizes the commissions that they must pay off to applications and delivery services. Furthermore, it gives employees a job to complete, especially if they were employees that counted on customers who dine in. With the economic issues that the world is facing today, this also helps in fighting back against increased economic struggles.
Food applications and delivery services around the world such as Zomato, Uber Eats and DoorDash have all implemented the concept of contactless delivery as a response to fighting COVID-19. From the United States, to Europe, the Middle East and the rest of the world, this worldwide approach to fighting this pandemic as a human race has become the latest trend. In sense to help these restaurants float and survive, companies offering these services have reduced their commission rates. This just goes to show the importance of working hand in hand, as a community, as a family and as a human race to keep each other moving forward.
By Ahmad Hajaj
