With lockdown and public health procedures set to continue for the time being, you may be anxious to get out of the house and see some of your friends. The good news is that the Dutch restaurant Mediamatic has developed a solution that allows you to maintain social distancing while eating out.
Mediamatic’s elegant solution is called ‘Sérres Séparées,’ or, translated, ‘separate greenhouses.’
In a nutshell, you could eat together separately: you and your friends would all sit together in a clean ‘bubble’, while food and drinks are bought to you by PPE-clad staff members. Your server then brings you your food, presented on a lengthy serving block, to maintain the distance between the food and the person carrying it. The server approaches your greenhouse, and then slides the plank in, presenting you with your food. Throughout this entire process, the waitstaff is wearing full PPE, from gloves to full-face shields.
This process will allow patrons to have the intimacy of a meal out with friends, while also ensuring their safety. By creating these small, clean ‘greenhouse bubbles’ for you to dine in, Mediamatic is able to faithfully recreate a more traditional evening out in a safe way.
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This has been successful in the testing they’ve been doing so far. At this point, all the people who’ve tested the restaurant have been friends and family of the staff, though Mediamatic hopes to open the restaurant to the public from May 21st onwards. Currently, the Dutch authorities haven’t approved the restaurant’s safety solution. Despite this, Mediamatic is fully booked until the end of June.
Whether this new system stays for a long time or a short time, it’s an impressive look into the ingenuity of human beings. What will we do next to get our hands on some nice food shared with friends?