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The BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association (BCRFA) has launched the "Stand Up for Service" campaign to shine a light on the tireless efforts of restaurant and foodservice staff during the pandemic.
In B.C., about 14,500 hospitality businesses are working to restart under new health guidelines everyday. To ensure everyones safety, the establishments must operate under new principles such as physical distancing, enhanced cleaning, table capacities and more.
As a result, operators are facing problems from consumers who are unhappy with these conditions who in turn, take out their frustrations on the staff. The owner/operator of Kelly O'Byran's in West Kelowna told Castanet last week the rule limiting table to six patrons has been a large friction point between staff and customers.
“The increase in stories from around the province where guests are taking their frustration out on staff and owners isn’t okay. We can’t support this kind of behaviour, but we also don’t want it to be the core message around restaurants,” says president and CEO of the BCRFA Ian Tostenson.
“That is why today we are making a call to respectful guests, nominate someone who is standing up for service and making dining in COVID-19 a great experience.”
The Stand Up for Service campaign wants individuals who are dining throughout the province to visit the BCRFA website to share their experience of a person or business who is creating a memorable dining experience while following the best practices to combat COVID-19.
“This campaign is something we need to do for both operators and customers,” says Tostenson. “We all need to know that people are working together to make dining safe and that putting in the extra work matters to the customer experience.”
Smaller and locally owned hospitality businesses were the first to be hit when the pandemic started and likely will be the last to recover, he added.
"If you want to dine out, bring your good habits with you and be kind, or stay home. B.C. businesses need to band together to support the staged reopening of the economy," the BCRFA said.
