Using Interior Design to keep the hospitality experience through COVID times
Hospitality is a social industry, from socialising with friends and strangers to the customer service you receive from the staff. Protective screens, face masks and order-by-phone may be necessary, but they are changing the hospitality experience.
No one can be sure how long social distancing will be enforced, if it’ll be the end of the year, after winter, and even then many places may choose to keep provisions in place for the safety of the staff and customers. By being happy and confident with your COVID- 19 set up it will make this unknown timeframe much less daunting.
How do we keep the hospitality experience whilst maintaining social distancing?
Get Creative with directions.
Directing people by using one-way systems have become part of COVID life, but this doesn’t need excessive eye catching signage, this can often be achieved naturally by clever furniture arrangements. You can use furniture and decorative items to create architectural barriers allowing people to circulate and flow around the objects in a calmer manor.
Get Creative with your unused seats.
Yellow industrial tape and upside down chairs is really not aesthetically pleasing. Why not denote the ‘taken’ (out of use) chairs with something on-topic that adds to the experience? If you’re a Mexican bar that might be sombreros, if you’re a Chinese restaurant it might be a teddy bear pandas, for something more casual it might be stickers of your logo – the possibilities are limitless!
Integrate your screening
If you are using screens or hoarding you can make it appear less temporary and more purposeful by integrating into the room set, this can be done simply by using paint, wallpaper or wall art the make the boards feel like part of the room.
Consider permanent screens.
By investing in a permanent installation you will get something that will divide space to reduce customer-to-customer contact, allow for more covers, creates less waste and enhance the character of your space. This way you are turning a necessity into something that can be long-term beneficial for your establishment.
Use Humour.
Most people will be quite forgiving of a situation if it’s presented in the right way. Have long instructions for a pay-by-phone service? Make someone laugh reading it and they will be more open to the idea of downloading your new app.
Create a new focal point.
It might be as simple as a floral arrangement or some wacky art, something that will create intrigue and become a welcome break from the Covid paraphernalia.
Create new human connection.
It’s great to do what you can to improve the human connection that might be reduced in other areas. One way this can be achieved is by introducing a window into the kitchen to allow customers to see their food being prepared.
Embrace outdoor space.
There has been a temporary change in licensing laws allowing more licensed establishments to use car parks and terraces as extended drinking areas under their existing license. There has also been a change in pavement licensing by lowering the application fee and reducing the consultation time. Get some festoon lighting up and take advantage of this (Check with your local authority first).
