Shielding is on the menu as restaurants get creative in bid to woo back diners across post-lockdown Europe
RESTAURANTS in Europe are devising creative ways to ensure customers can feel safe from Covid-19 during their dining experience.
A French restaurant has adopted a plastic shield to surround diners, another in Lithuania is using mannequins to ensure social distancing while a German outlet is using teddy bears for the same reason.
The prototype plastic shields in Paris are known as the Plex’eat, and they resemble big clear lampshades suspended from the ceiling.
They are being showcased temporarily at H.A.N.D., a Parisian restaurant seeking a way to reopen its dining room as coronavirus restrictions are relaxed.
As restaurateurs around the world seek to resume in-person dining amid the pandemic, they want to adhere to social distancing rules while also trying to serve as many customers as health and safety measures will allow.
Some are putting mannequins at every other table to put some space between the actual customers, like at Augustas And Barbora, a restaurant in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
Some of its faux diners are dressed casually, while others look as though they are at a ball.
The clothes showcase the work of local fashion designers.
“We want to fill the space with fun things,” said owner Patrikas Ribas.
Vilnius mayor Remigijus Simasius called the initiative a “perfect match of communal spirit and creativity working side by side”.
In Hofheim, Germany, the Beef’n Beer is using large teddy bears seated at some tables to keep diners properly and safely spaced apart.
They also ensure a cosy, less-sterile atmosphere.
At Amsterdam’s Mediamatic restaurant, the owners have erected small greenhouses that surround each table, served by waiters in protective shields.
While many restaurants offered takeaway and delivery during the health crisis to keep generating at least some income, such practices are less common in France, although Michelin-starred chefs such as Alain Ducasse have started a takeaway service.
Owners are seeking solutions that will coax back customers while also easing their anxiety about catching the virus.
Mathieu Manzoni, the director of H.A.N.D, said he thinks the plastic shields are a “pretty, more poetic” solution for restaurateurs who fear that social distancing could cut their capacity by half or more.
“There is a bit of a panic,” Mr Manzoni said.
Makers of the Plex’eat say they have received more than 200 pre-orders around the world, including from France, the US and Japan.
In the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, a restaurant on the banks of the Volga and Oka rivers has set up 20 plastic huts for couples.
It is awaiting approval from authorities to open if it meets safety standards.
Italian restaurants are using contact tracing.
Diners are supposed to reserve tables ahead of time and owners are keeping their contact information. If someone subsequently reports testing positive, the restaurant can quickly identify and contact those who ate there at the same time.