NEW DELHI: To restore consumer confidence and deal with the Covid crisis more effectively, Industry body National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) on Thursday launched Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and safety guidelines for ‘Covid-proofing’ the restaurants.
In partnership with Releski, a Bengaluru based skill-tech company, the SOPs cover issues pertaining to social distancing, reducing touch points, receiving and handling of goods and general health sanctity of the employees.
The SOPs also cover all available safety guidelines issued by bodies such as WHO, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and FSSAI. Multilingual visual training aids for employees who may not be in a position to read the entire SOP has also been developed. These guidelines cover detailed steps of operations and guidelines for Front of the House and Back of the House. Statutory compliances have also been well-defined in the guidelines. It focuses on the new operating procedures for all departments of the restaurants.
Anurag Katriar, President of NRAI; CEO & Executive Director of deGustibus Hospitality said in a statement, “Every restaurant cutting across formats is facing the harsh reality of subdued to shut business volumes in the present and the uncertainty of the business environment in the future. One thing is certain that hygiene and safety will be a key differentiator in the post-pandemic restaurant operations. We felt that it is important that NRAI releases its own set of comprehensive guidelines to its members which encompasses all the critical guidelines issued by everyone.”
Releski has also created training modules for NRAI members, available at a nominal price to them. The Covid-proof restaurant course include multilingual, easy and short video lessons showing the guidelines for all departments and every single role depicting the SOP mentioned in these guidelines.
Pravesh Pandey, Founder of Releski; Director – Partner of Byg Brewski Brewing Co. said, “After spending 20 years in the restaurant Industry, I realised that the need of the hour is a skilled landscape in the restaurant industry, as with more than 7.3 million employees and growing, the industry is purely dependent on its people. 65% of the industry is unorganised, my intent is to help them get organised through training support.
The restaurant industry has been badly affected due to Covid-19. The contours and rules of the consumption in the sector is expected to see a paradigm shift, with safety becoming the most important factor for a restaurant. One of the biggest challenges for the F&B sector will be to create awareness and ensure compliance of these new norms by every restaurant across the country.
