Restaurants in Times of COVID-19
INFO AND FAQ
Photo by: Fat Tucson
A lot is happening currently in our world that has left us all in a little bit of shock. With this new COVID-19 epidemic we are now seeing our friends in the restaurant industry highly affected by the changes they have had to make during this time. Therefore, I am writing this article to spread the word on helping our small businesses keep on going and to answer concerns some of you have had regarding getting your favorite meal with the new guidelines for restaurants.
First and foremost, we all know that restaurants are drive thru, pick up or delivery only. Many of your favorite restaurants have added delivery as an option through DoorDash, Postmates, or Uber Eats and these delivery services have lowered if not eliminated delivery fees. Now, some of you ask is it safe to expose delivery people by ordering through delivery. The answer is a lot of them depend on this because it is their form of income, so if you are doing delivery please tip well and help them out. Also there are some restaurants in Tucson offering their own delivery service up to a certain mile radius. For example, BK Tacos does delivery up to a 2 mile radius. As far as all this information goes, I suggest checking out your restaurants Facebook page or Instagram page for more information on what their options are and their contact info (many of them are also now doing alcohol to go with your food purchase! And these are STEALS!)
What are ways you can support local?
Order food and get it via delivery, drive thru, pick up
Buy merchandise! - Some of our local restaurants sell shirts, salsa, etc get in on that!
Buy a gift card/gift certificate - This quarantine won’t last forever and soon we will all be able to enjoy going out to eat again
Spread the word - Tell your friends/family to support local as much as they can
How safe is it to order food from a restaurant?
Restaurants practice daily cleaning rituals, hand washing every 10 minutes, the use of quaternary ammonia and daily break down and sanitation of equipment and tools. On top of that if you are sick you are not allowed to come to work at all.
As we know by the WHO (World Health Organization) this virus can’t withstand high temperatures and all restaurants cook food to 165 degrees for 15 seconds and then it’s hot held for 4 hours. Clean hands, gloves, no sick employees on site and food code temperature regulations make restaurant food safer than grocery store food.
You can read about food safety officially here: https://www.who.int/…/situ…/20200221-sitrep-32-covid-19.pdf…
Many if not all local restaurants are trying very hard not to have to lay off any of their staff and we want to support them as much as we can so they don’t have to. I for one know that restaurants are a big part of my life because of what I do but they are also a big part of others’ lives as well. They are a place of social gathering, a place to have work meetings, a place to unwind after a hard day at work (which if we’re being honest is more often than not). So please, if you’re able, support local.
Be safe everyone, do your part, wash your hands and we’ll be back to normal in no time.