Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - On Wednesday, restaurants and cafes in Shanghai , the biggest city in China, started to reopen their door...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - On Wednesday, restaurants and cafes in Shanghai, the biggest city in China, started to reopen their doors to diners. This marked a significant improvement for an industry that had been severely impacted by the city's two-month COVID-19 lockdown.
Since authorities declared the limitations were being lifted on Saturday, one month after the city's lockdown was lifted on June 1, large chains including hot pot brand Haidilao, fine dining restaurants, and family-owned eateries have begun washing dinnerware and getting uniforms cleaned.
As he was ready to open his five locations for indoor dining on Wednesday, Oli Liu, co-owner of the tapas restaurant chain Brownstone, remarked, "It's a very pleasant feeling."
"We can generate revenue with indoor eating...
Up until now, we were able to offer takeout and delivery, but due to the commissions we must pay (to delivery platforms), we are no longer able to turn a profit."
As early as the middle of March, when the number of COVID-19 cases in Shanghai started to rise, several restaurants in the 25 million-person city were compelled to cease dine-in services. During the shutdown, some were allowed to resume food delivery, while others remained closed.
The reopening, however, is not an easy process. Some business owners claimed that despite being required to cap customer numbers at 50% and to set a 90-minute session length, they had not yet gotten the go-ahead from their districts.
Diners must present documentation of a PCR test performed within three days in order to enter, and all restaurant personnel will be required to submit to daily COVID testing.
According to local media sources, eating parties should elect a "leader" to take charge of their table, however it's not clear what would happen if participants later tested positive.
According to Stefan Stiller, chef-owner of the upscale restaurant Taian Table, complying with such onerous rules will not be simple, and many eateries have already closed their doors or are anticipated to do so. Stiller also stated that he anticipates restrictions to be in place in some capacity for the remainder of the year.
Meeting the requirements is "not so easy... but we will manage somehow" for his three-star Michelin restaurant, which only seats 30 people when it is full and specialises in 10- to 12-course tasting menus that normally take several hours to finish.
But after primarily eating at home for several months, many diners are eager to return to restaurants.
A Shanghai resident with the last name He was one of the first clients to enter Brownstone's Lujiazui branch around lunchtime on Wednesday.
He confessed, "Normally, I don't cook at home... I have particularly missed eating out. I've been missing food for a very long time, including crayfish, BBQ, and beer.
