Roadmap to recovery

So, Covid-19 has undoubtedly been the most challenging situation for a generation, not just for the catering and hospitality industry but life as we ‘knew’ it; dealing with the virus itself, keeping ourselves and our families safe, not seeing our families, friends and colleagues, working through lockdown or not working at all (bringing further pressures financially) and a travel ban through the summer months when we are all usually planning some holiday time away in often sunnier climes. Add to that the general day to day challenges life brings, it’s been a tough year!

We’re all super keen to start getting back to some form of normality, at work and home. Even though I suspect we are now resigning ourselves to the thought, things may never be the same again. However, and I’ve always likened hospitality to being on the stage, the show MUST go on!

The current situation

Throughout this period bartlett mitchell have been totally focused on supporting our teams, clients and customers as much as possible – Open and Honest is one of our FOODIE values and we’ve consistently delivered on this during the toughest of times, whether it be good or bad news, but now it seems the recovery is, slowly, starting. Clients who have remained open throughout the pandemic are slowly but surely bringing increased numbers back to work. Some are reopening for the first time – taking tentative steps in the first few weeks, then increasing headcount and providing more services once satisfied their location can operate safely and securely without any concerns.

Great news we say, bring it on!! However, some clients are still reticent to invoke any kind of small, medium or large-scale return to work (especially in Central London and other key business cities where public transport is the most sensible commuter option) and have not yet made any clear indication of when they will repopulate their sites – some even muting it may not be until January to June 2021.

We totally understand those concerns and we’re here to help! As referenced in Antony’s blog ‘Catering for Essential Organisations’ a few weeks ago we have worked with our clients and partners on-site throughout the pandemic, giving us the necessary experience and knowledge to reopen catering safely. To further recognise and support this we’ve recently been awarded the Visit Britain ‘Good to Go’ award for Covid safety.

Our Roadmap

So, to support the thought process and help get things moving we’ve pulled together our ‘Roadmap to Recovery’ which includes some helpful tips on what to consider when reopening your catering facilities. From planning access requirements for teams, marking out safe one-way routing, through to increasing the food offer as the returning population grows, we hope it provides an insight into the items you need to consider to get catering back up and running. Because if you’re like me, you just want someone else to make you a sandwich or cook you a meal!

Roadmap To Recovery

Conclusion

Hopefully those tips will allow you to formulate your own ‘Roadmap to Recovery’ – then ultimately, it’s time to implement it!