National Post (National Edition)
WHAT DINING OUT WILL LOOK LIKE. HINT: A LOT OF PLASTIC.
From quarantine greenhouses to a clear ‘sneezing fence,’ some restaurants are adapting, but many can’t afford the costs
Outfitted in face shields and holding long wooden planks in gloved hands, servers slide meals into mini greenhouses lining Amsterdam’s waterfront. A pandemic riff on private dining rooms — chambres séparées in French — a Dutch restaurant has dubbed its experiment Serres Sépparées (separate greenhouses).
More like dining in a fishbowl than a behind-closed-doors experience, the ETEN restaurant at Amsterdam’s Mediamatic art centre is putting a playful spin on protective barriers. Big enough for up to three people to gather around a candlelit table, these transparent enclosures serve as an example of what dining during relaxed COVID-19 containment measures could look like.
The five greenhouses, which artist Diana Scherer originally created for her Spectrum Crops Findings in Colour project, overlook the Oosterdok harbour. “They are quite small, so we worried it would feel claustrophobic,” Willem Velthoven, founder of Mediamatic, told TODAY, “but the consensus is that they feel very cosy and intimate.”
Restaurants in the Netherlands will be takeout-only until at least May 18, Reuters reports, and the art centre hopes to launch its plant-based greenhouse dinners later this year. Its two trial runs were attended by friends and family of ETEN staff, one of whom described the experience as “super-cosy.”
Mediamatic calls its greenhouse model “new safe hospitality.” Put in the context of COVID-19, Serres Séparées is indeed novel. The pandemic presents very specific demands, and for restaurants, devising ways for guests and staff to maintain a safe distance at all times is crucial. Although we’ve seen this style of private-yet-public dining before — from pre-pandemic pods on the banks of London’s River Thames to glass domes along Ottawa’s Rideau Canal — it holds promise for businesses navigating the current crisis.
As COVID-19 restrictions ease, restaurateurs are considering new ways to accommodate physical distancing. In South Korean dining halls, for example, Plexiglas partitions separating seated guests are commonplace. A rural Swedish restaurant, Stedsans in the Woods, announced plans to install a clear “sneezing fence” on communal tables — “so you can talk to and see people on the other side of the table without being sneezed on.”
In Canada, most restaurateurs are questioning their ability to reopen at all, let alone contemplating ways to fund glass greenhouses or other private dining options. Lack of capital is a major issue, says James Rilett, vice president, Central Canada for Restaurants Canada. “Our biggest concern is 70 per cent of people are worried (about whether) they have enough capital to reopen,” says Rilett. “That’s going to be one thing that stands in the way of any innovation.”
Even if restaurants are permitted to operate at 50 per cent capacity, he adds, most will struggle to resume dine-in service. In addition to normal operating costs, there will likely be increased staffing requirements to cover enhanced cleaning and crowd control. Kitchens will have to be reconfigured to allow for physical distancing among staff. All of this will need to be accomplished with half the number of tables they usually rely on to generate revenue.
“With the restrictions still being on, it’s going to be hard for anybody to make any investments in things like you’re seeing in other countries,” says Rilett. “Once we’re through this, hopefully they’ll find a way to counteract the effects of the virus and people will be able to start congregating again. That’s when our industry will bounce back. That’s when you’ll see the real innovation and the real resilience of our industry.”