Reconsidering Restaurants
During the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Holst staff attended webinars to listen to industry leaders share the challenges they are facing. Perhaps more than any other industry, the hospitality industry, and particularly restaurants, have had to rethink the fundamentals of how they run their business. Restaurants have pivoted, changing the layouts inside, providing more outside dining options, innovating how they provide and deliver food, and even recreating their menus for ease of travel. Restaurants have had to make big shifts to be able to reopen and stay successful.
“The Future of On-Premise Dining” from rd+d magazine was particularly thought-provoking webcast as Holst began to explore how we can support our hospitality and restaurant clients as they shift their business models to fit our new reality. Below are four design and operational considerations restaurant owners and developers have faced when looking at reopening their businesses.
Rethinking In-Person & Takeout Dining
The continuance of delivery, along of in-person dining, has some restaurants considering separate access for both delivery drivers and customer pick-up. In addition to creating ambiance for customers dining in, they are exploring ways to provide an experience for those picking up. In continuing to provide delivery, some restaurants are resizing their kitchens to establish separate service lines for in-house and delivery, resulting in larger back-of-house operations spaces, but smaller dining rooms.
Cleanliness Changing Dining Environments
An increased emphasis on visible cleanliness and sanitization translates to higher light levels, more al fresco dining, and brighter dining spaces. Customers have always been part of the ambiance, providing noise, activity, and conversation. With half occupancy or less, how do we fill that experience gap?
A Variety of Approaches to Keeping Restaurants Afloat
More spacing between tables to provide physical distance also results in more open areas that need visual interest without clutter. Fewer customers in the restaurant also put pressure to increase per diner cost to maintain revenue. It has also resulted in fewer front-of-house staff. Rather than trying to upsell food, many restaurants are continuing or starting to sell food products or merchandise, either on- or off-site, to find additional revenue. And with so many restaurants relying on outdoor dining, how will we continue to provide comfortable outdoor dining during colder months?
New Food Service Models Are Emerging & Evolving
Many large food halls—a recent trend in development prior to the pandemic—have transitioned to delivery only, functioning more like ghost kitchens. As restaurants welcome customers again, the industry has seen new hybrids of in-person dining establishments retaining their walk-up windows. Ghost kitchens have also integrated in-person walk-up windows.
Traditional Find Dining Conventions Have Changed
Many of the signals of fine dining, like wait staff pulling out chairs, presenting menus, refolding napkins, and replacing silverware per course, have gone away. Touchless menus and payment have emerged across the range of full-service restaurants. Whether the traditions of fine dining have eroded due to changing cultural norms, like here in Portland, or ground to a halt with COVID-19, they will likely not return. What will be the new conventions of elegant hospitality that will replace those traditions?
