- These public-health measures can significantly reduce profits but designers have come up with a plan for restaurants to make money while keeping customers safe.
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As restaurants and bars reopen, they're being asked to limit capacity and comply with social distancing guidelines.
Restaurants and bars are beginning to reopen across the US, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still advises that drive-through, delivery, and take-out are the safest dining options .
For those who choose to dine in-person, the agency suggests eating outdoors and staying six feet apart from other patrons. Customers should also keep their dining parties small no more than a few people or a single household and employees should wear face masks and wash their hands frequently.
"You should be able to have a household group at the same table because they're exposed to each other every day anyway," Dr. Ramzi Asfour, an infectious-disease doctor in the San Francisco Bay Area, told Business Insider. But "it exponentially increases the risk of infection the more unrelated people you have at the table."
These public-health measures aren't exactly lucrative for restaurants. Social distancing guidelines often mean that establishments have to operate at half capacity or less. So architectural firms have come up with a way for restaurants to maximize profits while keeping customers safe.
The following diagrams show the ideal set-up for restaurants during the pandemic.
Rockwell Group, a New York City-based design firm, is helping restaurants transform into open-air cafes.
Rockwell Group
Outdoor dining is the ideal situation for restaurants that want to reopen safely, Asfour said.
"There's no zero-risk situation," he said, but "outdoor dining is very low risk."
Even though there's a higher risk of transmitting the virus indoors, that risk goes down with proper ventilation and social distancing, Asfour said. Maintaining good circulation might also allow restaurants to fit more tables inside.
"If you have good air exchange and good airflow, you can probably decrease the distance between tables," Asfour said.
A mock-up of Melba's restaurant in Harlem uses patio seating to maintain social distancing.
Rockwell Group
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday that New York City restaurants can reopen with outdoor dining on June 22. Establishments must follow social distancing rules, meaning tables should be six feet apart.
Rockwell Group is partnering with local restaurants to extend their seating onto the pavement or nearby streets.
Planter benches and fencing along the sidewalk helps separate customers from passersby.
Rockwell Group
Asfour said waiters should also wear face masks to prevent transmission. Ideally, he said, restaurants would offer paper bags in which customers can temporarily place their masks while they're eating.
Green tables at this mock San Francisco restaurant show where customers are allowed to sit. Each table is capped at four people.
Boor Projects and Hemminger Architects
The above diagram designed by two San Francisco architects , Seth Boor and Charles Hemminger reduces restaurant capacity to 34%. The restaurant's aisles are wide enough so that all customers have a three-foot radius when walking to their table or getting up to use the restroom.
At the far right entrance, a host takes customers' temperatures before they enter the building. Patrons can then order their meals at a self-ordering station. Asfour said automated payment systems are safer than handling a physical check.
Certain types of seating, like enclosed booths, can protect patrons while helping restaurants maximize their space.
MASS Design Group
"Requiring that diners stay six feet apart in existing restaurant settings is, in many cases, simply not possible as it will reduce the number of diners by 50% to 70% depending on the space," Boston-based architectural firm MASS Design Group wrote in a recent report .
Instead, the firm recommends booths with high barriers and good ventilation. Bars and high-top seating, they added, are difficult to adapt to social distancing guidelines.
Customers should watch out for certain red flags, even when social distancing is enforced, Asfour said.
Irene Jiang/Business Insider
Asfour said customers should look for posted signs that indicate a restaurant is enforcing social distancing. Hand sanitizing stations are another signal that a restaurant is complying with public-health regulations, he said.
Restaurants shouldn't offer communal items, like ketchup bottles or salt and pepper shakers, he added, unless they're wiping these items down after each customer. Crumbs on the tablecloth are a red flag that the restaurant isn't changing its linens.
Restaurants should still brace for infections, Asfour added.
Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters
"Almost everybody will have an infection in their establishment at some point," Asfour said. "If you can show that you abided by the guidelines, you've trained your staff, nobody was grossly negligent, you've thought about airflow, you've thought about spacing, you've maybe even used a consultant all of these steps can mitigate your risk."
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