For restaurant industry, technology to help overcome challenges in post-corona world: Dineout

Restaurant tech platform Dineout on Monday said the restaurant industry will have to increasingly use technology to create a safe environment for everyone in the post-coronavirus world.

Many restaurants are looking at contactless dining to remove non-essential human interaction and continue to safeguard both diners and staff interests, Dineout said in a whitepaper.

According to the restoration guidelines laid out in the paper, the restaurants need to build trust and habits that reassure anxious diners who are wary about touching unsanitised surfaces.

"There are a multitude of touch points with a diner that restaurateurs are looking to modify and facilitate with the introduction of technology. These can be simple actions like booking a table, pre-ordering meals, takeaway, digital ordering, digital payment, etc," Dineout said.

The whitepaper also stressed the need for maintaining the health and hygiene standards for the staff.

It also recommended that in the restaurants, space management and overall interiors must be social distancing-themed.

"As the world negotiates the enduring impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, our interaction with the outside world will reorient in both the short and long term for the sake of personal hygiene and public health," Dineout co-founder and CEO Ankit Mehrotra said.

These post-COVID-19 sensibilities are likely to have an enduring impact in how the country's food and beverages industry is expected to operate, and the 'Reinventing The Wheel: Dining Out In A Post-COVID Era' whitepaper is our way to help Indian restaurateurs comprehend and adapt to this 'new normal' and the rapidly evolving demands of Indian diners, he added.