Wisconsin Reopening: Checklist for Restaurants

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Recommendations for Restaurant and Food Services and Bars

Employee Health and Hygiene

Employees who have a fever or other symptoms of COVID-19 will not be allowed to work.
Maintain an adequate supply of paper goods, soap and hand sanitizer to allow proper hand hygiene among employees and customers.
Provide tissues for proper cough/sneeze etiquette and no-touch disposal receptacles.
Emphasize effective hand hygiene, including washing hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially before preparing or eating food; after using the bathroom; and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing.

Face masks and cloth face coverings

Employees should wear a face mask or cloth face covering when near other employees and customers.
Instruct your employees how to properly put on and remove a face mask or cloth face covering. The CDC illustrates how to properly wear a face covering and have several tutorials for how to make one.

Clean and disinfect

Familiarize yourself with requirements from your local health department and make sure you are adhering to them. <br>
In food preparation areas, utilize only appropriate food service chemicals.
Sanitize high-contact areas in the front and back of the establishments (for example, doorknobs, buttons, cooler doors, shopping carts/baskets, and check-out counters) every two hours, or after each user if feasible. Sanitize tables and seating after each guest.
Sanitize food contact surfaces after each use.
Restrooms should be sanitized frequently, and the establishment shall monitor that patrons and staff adhere to social distancing guidelines regarding restroom use.
Use disposable menus or sanitize menus after each use.
Do not use disinfecting wipes to wipe more than one surface; use one wipe per item or area and discard after each use or when visibly soiled.

Food and beverage handling and preparation

Ensure you are adhering to the requirements in the Wisconsin Food Code.
Use gloves to avoid direct bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods or unwrapped single-use items such as straws, stir sticks, or toothpicks.
Wrap food containers to prevent cross-contamination.
Follow four steps to food safety: Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill.
Encourage staff to become Certified Food Protection Managers.
Do not allow customers to refill their own drinks; only allow staff to refill drinks, and use a new cup or mug for the refill.
Use rolled silverware/napkins stored in sealed bags. Staff will roll silverware in designated sanitary areas. Do not preset silverware. Once removed from the sealed bags, utensils may not be reused, even if they have not been unwrapped.
Grocery stores are permitted to keep open areas where customers self-dispense unpackaged foods, such as fresh produce. Self-dispensing that requires the use of tongs or scoops, like bulk bins and bakery displays, are encouraged to close but not required to do so. Grocery stores are required to sanitize the tongs and scoops frequently and close the self-dispensing area if they are not able to accomplish this sanitizing.
Grocery store produces areas may remain accessible for customer self-service.

Social distancing

The capacity of customer-facing businesses should be reduced as much as possible to ensure adequate social distancing.
Eliminate any unnecessary physical contact between staff and customers, and maintain social distancing with a six-foot distance between individuals whenever possible.
Install physical barriers such as sneeze guards and partitions at cash registers, bars, host stands and other areas where maintaining a physical distance of six feet is difficult.
Offer cashless and contactless transactions whenever possible.
When exchanging paper and coin money, do not touch your face afterward. Ask customers to place cash on the counter rather than directly into your hand. Place money on the counter, not in hand, when providing change back to customers. Clean counter after each customer at checkout.
Any indoor or outdoor waiting area must be marked to enforce social distancing standards. One member of a party should be allowed in the waiting area, while other members of the party wait in their vehicle. Advance reservations are preferred to walk-in dining.
Dining rooms should maintain six feet between tables. When possible, physical barriers made of plastic or similar solid material should separate tables/booths. Tables and booths that are not compliant should be clearly signed and blocked off (i.e., with visible tape) across seats and tables.
Limit each tables to six guests. Extra chairs should be removed and tables may not be combined.
For bar areas, two bar stools should be left empty between customers not in the same party. The same rules apply to outdoor patio areas.
Adjust menu offerings and kitchen workflows to allow employees to maintain six feet of distance.
Use floor markings in entry and cash wrap areas to encourage social distancing.
Smoking patios should be closed or limited to one person at a time.
Common-use areas (such as lounge areas and child play areas) should be closed if social distancing and sanitizing between users cannot be maintained.

Additional customer protections

Post signage on the front door letting customers know about changes to your policies and instructing them to stay away if they are experiencing COVID-like symptoms.
Install sanitizing stations (with hand sanitizer that is at least 60% alcohol) at the entrance to your business and encourage customers to use them.
Remove all unnecessary touchpoints, especially those that cannot be sanitized. Examples include the use of pens to sign receipts (cashless and contactless transactions are recommended), paper ordering slips, and order/table buzzers.
Utilize disposable items instead of reusable whenever possible, and provide adequate trash receptacles to accommodate waste.
Remove shared condiments from tables. Provide them by request and sanitize after usage, or provide single-use containers or disposable packets.
Close all self-service food and drink stations (for example, salad bars and buffets).

Food pickup and delivery

Continue offering online sales, delivery, and curbside pickup, and consider pre-ordering of dine-in meals to reduce dine-in customers’ time on site and reduce the number of customers dining at once.
If offering take-out/carry-out options, conduct an evaluation of your facility to identify and apply operational changes in order to maintain a six-foot distance from others when possible.
Avoid direct hand-off if possible.
Post signs to inform customers of food pickup protocols.
Provide physical guides, such as tape on floors or sidewalks, to ensure that customers remain at least six feet apart in line, or ask customers to stay in their cars or away from the establishment while waiting to pick up food.
Establish designated pickup zones for customers to help maintain social distancing.
Practice social distancing when delivering food. An example of this could be offering no-touch deliveries and sending text alerts or calling when deliveries have arrived.
Ensure that coolers and transport containers are cleaned and sanitized.
Maintain time and temperature controls.
ServSafe is offering free takeout and delivery training videos for curbside and delivery operations with COVID-19 precautions.

Offsite/catering

Food trucks and caterers should adhere to similar guidelines to restaurants regarding social distancing. This may require food trucks to operate with only one employee. Food trucks should locate at least 30 feet apart to provide adequate room for queuing with social distancing.
Catering staff are not responsible for the setup of the venue; the host entity is responsible for table distancing and event logistics.
Prepackaged disposable utensils and supplies or pre-wrapped utensils (as discussed in the “Food and beverage handling and preparation” section) should be provided for guests. Serving dishes and utensils should be sanitized between uses.
Customers should not be allowed to self-serve (i.e., no buffet service). Single-serving condiments should be used.