With the restaurant industry being devastated by the coronavirus outbreak, Santa Clarita businesses have adapted their services to provide in-person dining experiences that are intended to comply with restrictions posed by Los Angeles County. 

After almost four months of enforcing the “Safer-at-Home” order to deescalate the progression of COVID-19 through March to June, California officials have integrated procedures to allow the economy to bounce back, while simultaneously attempting to prevent further infections.

Restaurants in the Santa Clarita Valley have been reopening dine-in services slowly to satisfactorily adhere to the requirements posed by the county and maintain health safety within their establishments. 

“We had a list of guidelines provided by the county and fortunately we were already acting on a lot of those requirements during our take-out services,” said a manager at The Local Pub & Grill in Stevenson Ranch. “Additional and consistent cleaning has been further prioritized, menus have been made contactless through digital QR code access, Apple and Google Pay have made all payments contactless alongside the continuation of our usual online ordering setup. The entire staff has been trained proper sanitization and safety measures, masks are required by all employees and temperature checks as well as asking symptomatic questions are completed before every shift.” 

Not only maintaining a safe distance between customers and employees, restaurants have also implemented measures to distance customers from each other.

“We are currently enforcing social distancing upon entering the restaurant, so we have signage that endorses staying six feet apart from others,” said a manager at Salt Creek Grille.  “We have also created distance between all tables that are movable and we have added barriers in between booths. Sanitizer stations have been placed throughout the restaurant for customer convenience and all employees must wear face coverings and gloves at all times for the protection of our guests.”

Through the insistence of health code compliance by Los Angeles County, Santa Clarita restaurants have utilized all possible measures to maintain safety within their establishments to simultaneously give their guests a pleasant dining experience and do their part in limiting the spread of COVID-19.

“Aligning Los Angeles County’s health orders with the State’s is going to provide immediate relief to our communities,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “This important step will give our residents and businesses clarity as we continue to take positive steps toward reopening Los Angeles County.”

With California recording more cases of COVID-19 than any other day during the start of the pandemic on Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered that all Californians wear face coverings upon leaving their homes to not jeopardize the progress that has been made to combat further spread of the disease. 

Adhering to guidance from federal and state industries to limit further spread of COVID-19, Los Angeles County has administered a checklist of best practices for safe operations for businesses to follow upon reopening restaurant in-person services. 

The 17-page document, released by the County of Los Angeles, contains guidelines that enforce reduced capacities within dining rooms, fewer staff, no live entertainment, no table-side food preparations, no shared condiments, and no disposable products including menus and silverware. 

Other key highlights from the checklist include:

• Maximize physical distancing on-premise, meeting or exceeding person-to-person and table-to-table distance of six feet in all directions (also consider waiting lines and other shared spaces).
• Consider providing documented temperature and/or symptom screenings for all workers at the beginning of their shift or upon entering the establishment, per LA County guidelines; if requiring self-screening at home, ensure that screening was performed prior to the worker leaving the home for their shift and follows CDC guidelines. 
• Complete frequent sanitization of high-touch surfaces and shared items, per CDC guidelines (e.g., kitchens, door handles, tables, chairs, restrooms, points of sale).
• Disinfect all reused or shareable material between each use (e.g., shared food or drink preparation tools or items, table condiments, digital ordering devices, laminated menus, receipt trays, pens).
• Require waitstaff to wear face coverings per LA City and CA state guidance if they have direct contact with customers.
• Per CA state guidance, modify use of self-service areas/machines (e.g., condiment or utensil caddies, buffets, salad bars, drink dispensers); provide these items to guests individually and discard or clean and disinfect after each use, as appropriate.

The complete list of best-practices can be found here.

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