How To Support Restaurants Without Putting Food Delivery Workers At Risk
Restaurants across the country are closing to dine-in customers, either mandated to do so by city or state officials or self-selecting to shut down as a precaution in the COVID-19 crisis. Many eateries are shifting solely to takeout or delivery to keep their businesses afloat and serve the millions of people sheltering in place at home.
For consumers, ordering food delivery during a pandemic likely raises some ethical questions. How can you best support local restaurants struggling in these times? Is it safe to order food delivery when health officials emphasize limiting contact with others? Are you putting your own or anyone else’s health at risk when you get food delivered?
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“I think all of those concerns are there,” said Ryan Palmer, a Minneapolis-based attorney who leads the restaurant legal team at Lathrop GPM. “I think the primary driver is a social responsibility and being a member of a community and just wanting to do your part to slow the spread of the virus.”
The coronavirus outbreak has heightened the demand for food delivery. Many restaurants are quickly adapting, with some adding delivery for the first time, cross-training employees to make deliveries and developing no-contact delivery solutions. And business owners are striving to keep customers safe, employees paid and bills current.
If you’re ordering food delivery, there are a few things you should consider about doing so safely and ethically, and how it’s all affecting the restaurant industry.
First, know that delivery alone can’t sustain most restaurants
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, restaurants’ off-premises sales,...
