When the hospitality sector starts to open back up, businesses will need to be ready to operate in a 'COVID-secure' way complete with a social distancing furniture layout.
This poses new challenges to the industry, as making the best use of the space you have available can take more than just moving your current tables and chairs two metres apart.
You might want to invest in furniture that uses the space more efficiently, as you need to be confident that customers will remain far enough apart not only when they first arrive, but throughout their stay.
Here are a few examples of sensible social distancing furniture for hospitality businesses to help you make your premises COVID-secure.
Outdoor furniture
The virus that causes COVID-19 disperses much more easily in the open air, reducing the risk of transmission, so outdoor furniture has a natural advantage to keep customers safe.
Although it's not yet known for certain how long this coronavirus can survive on different surfaces, it appears to last 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel, and less - perhaps 2-8 hours - on aluminium.
While you'll need to clean furniture regularly as part of your COVID-19 precautions, you could consider options like our Monaco stacking chair and Rossa stacking table, both made out of aluminium, to reduce the risk of any virus cells surviving on surfaces for very long.
Plastic and stainless steel furniture are also sensible options, as although the virus appears to survive for longer on those than it does on aluminium, they still perform better than some other materials.
Diner furniture
American Diner furniture has been around since long before the current coronavirus outbreak, but it is a naturally good fit as part of a social distancing furniture layout.
Diner benches and two-seater chairs can be used to define seating areas, and customers are less likely to try to move them around.
The materials used - stainless steel frames and faux leather upholstery - are also very easy to keep clean and will withstand regular cleaning with disinfectant.
You could consider separating booths with partitions or clear Perspex screens - these provide a physical barrier to prevent the virus from passing to the neighbouring table and can work well alongside other social distancing measures.
Stacking chairs and tables
On a practical note, stacking chairs and tables give you the flexibility you might need in the coming months when it comes to reconfiguring your interior layout at short notice.
Stacking chairs can be cleared away to create more social distance between groups of customers, and brought out in the future as conditions start to improve further.
Zebrano stacking chairs are stylish, contemporary and ergonomic, while Roma stacking chairs can be stored up to 10 high, making excellent use of your storage space.
Finally, our square stacking tables and rectangular stacking tables are available in a range of wood effects, but are made of melamine, which can be kept clean by wiping it regularly with sanitiser spray as part of your new COVID-secure cleaning and hygiene regime.