With the nationwide lockdown set to unlock, as it were, from today, F&B brands are gearing up to serve customers at their doors once again.
With the term new normal having already gotten rather old, national brands are prepared for a change in the way the nation eats out.
Merrill Pereyra, Managing Director, Pizza Hut Indian Subcontinent, addressing the MHA guidelines said all their stores are fully prepared to serve valued customers.
Pizza Hut was already following all regulatory protocols and guidelines issued by the government, WHO and FSSAI at their stores as soon as Contactless Delivery and Takeaway became operational.
“Currently, all stores are doing temperature checks of customers and staff and ensuring masks are worn by restaurant staff at all times. Sanitisers have been installed at key touch points, and ordering stations and seating have been re-aligned to maintain social distancing norms.
All our stores are equipped to offer Contactless Dining wherein right from accessing the menu to making payments, the process will be digital,” says Pereyra.
Indeed, Contactless Dining is all the rage these days with various companies already having tested it out in beta-mode in smaller areas prior to a national roll out, often tying up with tech start-ups to ensure a seamless, and touch-free, consumer experience.
As previously reported here, Dominos introduced ‘Zero Contact Delivery’ across all its 1,325 restaurants in India a service that allows customers to receive their order without coming in contact with the delivery staff.
On the other side of the menu, literally, are firms like DotPe, which has already tied up with a slew of food brands like Barista, looks at providing digital transformation and commerce solutions to brick and mortar outlets.
By offering its digital ordering solution to most cafés of Barista across India over time, DotPe intends to help them drive streamlined business operations while following social distancing & safety norms.
With the model already having successfully rolled out in Gurugram, Barista also plans to start home delivery and contactless dining services through DotPe. Orders can either be placed online for home delivery via WhatsApp or by scanning the QR code placed at the cafe tables.
Speaking on the partnership, Shailaz Nag, Founder DotPe said, “Given social distancing will be a way of life even after the lockdown is lifted, now is the time to restore confidence among the customers who want to order their coffees, essentials, and delicacies but are worried about safety. The uniqueness of our platform is that end customers don’t have the hassles of downloading any app and can start ordering by simply scanning the QR code, placed outside Barista, once.”
Already being used by other food chains like Haldiram’s, Social, Smoke House Deli, Cafe Delhi Heights, and Beer cafe, Dotpe hopes to cater to five lakh large and small offline businesses by the end of this year, which we hope comes sooner than later.