mumbai as the state contemplates the idea of allowing restaurants bars and hotels to unbolt from the first week of july its hard to foresee what the new face of indias dineout culture will look like against the backdrop of a pandemic but it will presumably be wearing a mask with an emblazoned smiley and come bearing thermal guns and sanitisers instead of drinks and appetisers the centres decision to allow hospitality establishments to open brings relief to 15000 restaurants and bars and nearly 2000 star hotels and clubs in the mumbai region that directly employ over seven lakh people and another 30 lakh involved indirectly through the value chain of supplies maintenance transport and tourism reopening in the midst of covid cases still raging is tricky but chefs and restaurateurs are navigating the web of rules and regulations to step up their game and whenever they do open up creative and innovative ways to maintain social distancing norms will redefine the eatingout landscape for starters qr codes will replace menu cards preplated meals will substitute personalised service selfserve environments of buffets will hit pause as much as valet parking and instead sparse seating and dining cubicles will become a part of the emerging culture of pandemic hospitality once someone enters a restaurant they will have to sanitize their gloves and keep their mask on unless eating two people will be allowed on a bench of three sterilized crockery will be served after an order is placed using a qr code on the table instead of menu cards says kamlesh barot former president of fhrai the apex federation of all hotel and restaurant associations in the country and owner of revival restaurant off marine drive the entire sop standard operating procedure not only for the kitchen department but right from security and service to engineering and housekeeping utilities had to be rewritten after referring to authentic researchbased practices sop vide training has to be undergone before starting home deliveryapart from fewer tables and aggressive cleaning measures out of the blue that runs a restaurant and deli in bandra is thinking of installing small cubicles and may also introduce singleuse paper menus as well as disposable plastic placemats and crockery were not planning to open before august or september as most people may be asymptomatic and might put the staff and other patrons at risk said restaurant director rahul bajaj however a skeletal staff after a large chunk of migrants who form the bulk of mumbais hospitality industry workforce exited the city and customers fears of public spaces are a concern we need the governments help to reduce the fear among migrant labourers and bring them back to work with the same enthusiasm says shivanand shetty president of ahar an association of over 15000 restaurants and bars and owner of hariyali restaurant and bar although covid19 does not spread through food the pandemic has had a disastrous effect on us with people refraining from outside food since