Cabaret Party Rental has social distancing solutions for your restaurant using innovative layouts and tents. Our team provides NYC tent rentals, but in this time of need, we have switched gears to give our customers what they need: social distancing tents. These can be used for restaurants and cafes who need a little more space to accommodate their customers while also keeping them and their employees safe and healthy.

Cabaret Party Rental aims to address the restaurant industry, primarily restaurant owners, to aid them in successfully opening their business in the safest manner. Our social distancing solution team has used the National Restaurant Association to inform restaurant owners how best to reopen. As stated by the association, these recommendations are intended to complement existing state and local regulations concerning cleaning and sanitation, personal hygiene, social distancing, and health monitoring and are meant to be used in conjunction with the FDA Food Code requirements, and all guidance the CDC, FDA, and state and local health officials are requiring as the states begin to reopen their economies.

Restaurant Reponse & Restaurant Owner Checklist

Food safety has always been a priority for the restaurant industry, for both guests and employees, and Cabaret Party Rentals is here to assist restaurant businesses during this transition. The following guidance outlined by the National Restaurant Association is evidence-based and is designed to reduce and prevent the incidence of foodborne illness and other infectious diseases. As business owners navigate their reopening strategy, these insights on food safety, cleaning & sanitization, employee health & personal hygiene, and social distancing will help mitigate exposure to COVID-19 and decrease the overall spread of the virus.

How Can Employers Ensure Food Safety?

To guarantee food safety for customers and employees, restaurant owners and employers should ensure that the following steps are taken consistently, during every restaurant shift.

• Discard all food items that are out of date.
• Where salad bars and buffets are permitted by local/ state officials, they must have sneeze guards in place. Change, wash, and sanitize utensils frequently and place appropriate barriers in open areas. Alternatively, cafeteria-style (worker served) is permissible with appropriate barriers in place.
• If providing a “grab and go” service, stock coolers to no more than minimum levels.
• Ensure the person in charge is ServSafe certified and that their certification is up to date.
• Food handler training should be provided to all employees to refresh their previous training and guarantee that all employees are using the same safe procedures.

What Are The Best Protocols For Cleaning & Sanitizing?

Cleaning and sanitizing is always important in a restaurant setting, however, with wide-spread COVID-19 infections, it is even more crucial. All restaurant owners should feel confident in their cleaning and sanitizing procedures and know that their customers and employees are safe. Please strictly follow these cleaning and sanitizing procedures to reopen your restaurant successfully and safely.

• Cleaning the entire facility thoroughly and frequently is crucial, especially if it has been closed for some time. Focusing on high-contact areas that are touched by both, employees and guests, as well as focusing on seldom-touched surfaces is key.
• Wash and rinse food contact surfaces, food preparation surfaces, and beverage equipment after use and avoid all food contact surfaces when using disinfectants.
• Wherever possible, assign a staff member to work the self-service drink stations and remove lemons and unwrapped straws from self-service drink stations.
• Check restrooms regularly. Clean and sanitize them based on the frequency of use and make individual disinfectant wipes available in bathrooms.
• Avoid sharing items such as menus, condiments, and food orders. Use disposable or digital menus; toss disposable menus after each use. Opt for single-use condiments. Use no-touch trash cans.
• Use contactless payment options as much as possible. Ask customers and employees to exchange cash or cards by placing them on a receipt tray or on the counter to avoid hand-to-hand contact.
• Use disposable foodservice items (utensils, dishes). If disposable items are not feasible, ensure that all non-disposable foodservice items are handled with gloves and wash according to FDA Food Code requirements. Employees should wash their hands after removing their gloves or after directly handling used food service items.
• Use gloves when handling and disposing of trash, dispose of gloves immediately after and wash hands and avoid using food and beverage containers or utensils brought in by customers.
• Ensure that ventilation systems operate properly and increase the circulation of outdoor air as much as possible such as by opening windows and doors. Do not open windows and doors if doing so poses a safety risk to employees, children, or customers.
• Take steps to ensure that all water systems and features (for example, drinking fountains, decorative fountains) are safe to use after a prolonged facility shutdown to minimize the risk of Legionnaires’ disease and other diseases associated with water.

How Can Your Restaurant Best Monitor Employee Health & Personal Hygiene?

Your employees are just as important as your customers. It’s essential to ensure their health and wellbeing in a clean and safe environment. It is recommended that restaurant owners and management make it clear to all employees that their health is the most important. To make certain this is understood, management should discuss, monitor, and evaluate the following steps for employee health and personal hygiene.

• Per existing FDA Food Code requirements, employees who are sick should remain at home. If an employee becomes ill or presents signs of illness, the operator should identify the signs during a pre-work screening and follow the business’s established policies on when the ill employee is allowed to return to work. At a minimum, however, follow CDC guidelines – tell the employee to self-isolate for seven days from the onset of symptoms and be symptom-free for three days without medication. Inform those who have had close contact with a person diagnosed with COVID-19 to stay home and self-monitor for symptoms.
• If an employee is at high-risk for severe illness, consider assigning them duties that minimize their contact with customers and other employees (e.g., managing inventory rather than working as a cashier, managing administrative needs through telework).
• Establish procedures for safely transporting anyone sick to their home or to a healthcare facility.
• Immediately notify local health officials, staff, and customers (if possible) of any possible case of COVID-19, but maintain the confidentiality that’s consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other applicable federal and state privacy laws.
• Close off areas used by a sick person and do not use until the areas have been cleaned, sanitized, and in non-food-contact areas, disinfected. Wait 24 hours to clean, sanitize and disinfect, if possible. If waiting 24 hours is not possible, wait as long as you can. Ensure the safe and correct application of disinfectants and keep disinfectant products away from children.
• Per CDC recommendations, face coverings have been shown to be effective tools to mitigate risk from individuals who show symptoms as well as those who don’t, especially in close environments where it’s hard for people to maintain a three- to six-foot distance. In some states and local jurisdictions, face coverings are required by government officials; some employers require them, too. In all cases, those coverings worn by employees should be kept clean in accordance with CDC guidance. CDC provides overall cleaning guidance here.
• Train all employees on the importance of frequent hand washing, the use of hand sanitizers with at least 60% alcohol content, and give them clear instructions to avoid touching hands to face.

How Can Your Restaurant Follow Strict Social Distancing Guidelines?

Social distancing is crucial for both your customers and your staff. Your restaurant should be a place where people feel comfortable to enjoy a meal, not worried or anxious that they may fall ill. Follow these social distancing guidelines to guarantee the safety and health of your clientele and employees.

• Update floor plans for common dining areas, redesigning seating arrangements to ensure at least six feet of separation between table setups. Limit party size at tables to no more than the established “maximums approved” as recommended by CDC or approved by local and state governments. Where practical, especially in booth seating, physical barriers are acceptable. Cabaret Party Rentals is offering tents that can function as an overflow tent to house more customers but within the national restaurant guidelines!
• Provide physical guides, such as tape on floors or sidewalks to ensure that customers remain at least six feet apart in lines or ask customers to wait in their cars or away from the establishment while waiting to dine or pick up food. Post signs to inform customers of food pickup and install physical barriers, such as sneeze guards and partitions at cash registers, bars, host stands, and other areas where maintaining a physical distance of six feet is difficult.
• Remind third-party delivery drivers and any suppliers that you have internal distancing requirements.
• Post signage at the entrance that states that no one with a fever or symptoms of COVID-19 is to be permitted in the restaurant.
• Use technology solutions where possible to reduce person-to-person interaction: mobile ordering and menu tablets; text on arrival for seating; contactless payment options. Consider options for dine-in customers to order ahead of time to limit the amount of time spent in the establishment.
• Try not to allow guests to congregate in waiting areas or bar areas. Design a process to ensure guests stay separate while waiting to be seated. The process can include floor markings, outdoor distancing, waiting in cars, etc. Consider an exit from the facility separate from the entrance. Determine ingress/egress to and from restrooms to establish paths that mitigate proximity for guests and staff.
• Train all employees in the above safety actions while maintaining social distancing and use of face coverings during training. With larger staff, use communication boards or digital messaging to convey pre-shift meeting information.

These guidelines have been provided by the National Restaurant Association (May 22, 2020). Please find the full PDF here.

Cabaret Party Rentals Is Here To Help You Reopen Your Restaurant & Business!

As an additional social distancing solution, Cabaret Party Rental team has come up with social distancing tents to fit a multitude of restaurants, locations, and layouts. It is our goal to work with you and your business to provide a social distancing solution in the form of a sidewalk tent, rooftop tent, or parking lot ten. We will find a way to get your business back up to speed in a healthy, safe manner. Our NYC tent rentals can provide social distancing floor plans, parking lot installation, sidewalk tents, curbside services, and more!

Let Cabaret Party Rental help your restaurant thrive again. Check out our options for social distancing tents and solutions. We are committed to helping your restaurant get back on their feet. Additionally, we can provide tents for rent in NYC for various reasons like medical testing for hospitals or healthcare facilities, whatever you need don’t hesitate to ask. Contact Cabaret Party Rental to adequately reopen your business in a safe and healthy manner. We look forward to working with you soon!