-CB News Desk (publisherchefbharath@gmail.com)
Mumbai: Leading food delivery and table-booking player, Zomato India, in an idea to reduce the human contact between the hoteliers and guests, has introduced a contact-less dining option for the post-lock period in India.
According to their blog post, the contactless dining minimizes customer contact with anything that someone else might have touched – by eliminating the use of high-touch elements at restaurants. Imagine a full-stack tech-enabled dining experience, but with the least risk to health and safety.
Contactless Dining will have the following components –
- Contactless menu – scan a QR code on the table to explore the restaurant menu with dish and pairing recommendations
- Contactless ordering – order through the app (you don’t need to talk to the waiting staff to place an order, or modify an order)
- Contactless payment – once done, just pay the bill via the app & leave the restaurant premises
This eliminates the need for menu cards and bill books, two articles that are often touched by guests, and are typically unsanitized and could potentially be a source of concern. So far, the waiting staff will still need to bring you your food from the kitchen, but as long as the waiting staff is wearing a mask, and following the highest hand hygiene standards, we should all be okay.
“We are building additional features on the app — such as the ability to order multiple courses, and the option to pay for yourself or the entire table — to ensure a hassle-free dining experience.”, says the post.
Contactless Dining also ensures that consumers don’t have to wait to place their order or pay the bill. Thus, making the entire experience far more seamless and convenient for the users.
Contactless Dining is a step forward in the right direction for the restaurant industry; this will provide for a better and hassle- free dining experience for customers, and also improve the economics of the restaurant industry – by helping bring down manpower costs, as well as reducing the table turnover time.
Restaurant Hygiene & Safety Practices
As hygiene takes precedence, Zomato recommends that restaurants judiciously follow the protocols laid out by the health authorities across the world (including WHO). To encourage this, we are adding safety features on the app wherein restaurants will be able to self-report safety and hygiene measures that they undertake, such as –
Sanitized premise: Ensure frequent cleaning/disinfection of high touch-points such as tables/door handles etc.
Hand sanitization: Display alcohol-based hand sanitizers prominently around the venue or/and provide hand-washing station to the users
Food hygiene: Ensure that all raw meats, seafood, vegetables have been cleaned thoroughly before preparation.
Table layout: Arranging tables at least one meter apart from each other
Staff temperature check: Ensure daily temperature checks for the restaurant staff
Staff hygiene and awareness: Staff is educated about precautions that are necessary to maintain hygiene in the restaurant. Staffs wash their hands thoroughly multiple times a day.
