Some Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) in Nigeria have suspended dine-in table service and replaced this with take-out options as the country continues to record new cases of the novel coronavirus.
These measures are designed to stop the spread of the virus. BusinessDay survey of Chicken Republic, The Place and Mega Chicken in Lagos shows that the restaurants are offering take-outs instead of their usual dinning services.
According to them, they are abiding by the Lagos State directive of not more than 20 people in any public gathering.
“We can only allow customers to eat in the restaurants if they are less than 20 but if we have more than that number, we offer take away services instead. And this goes in all the other branches that we have,” Tinu Adejoke, a manager at Mega Chicken, Lekki, says on phone.
Usually, restaurants are known to have large gathering of people since it provides essential food services.
Last weekend, the Lagos State government announced that the number of people allowed at any public gathering should not be more than 20, nullifying the previous limit of 50 people allowed to gather in public, including in churches and mosques. The government is pushing for social distancing more than ever to help contain the spread of the virus.
“Since the COVID-19 outbreak, we have been advising our customers not to eat in the restaurants to prevent the spread of the virus. For now, offering take-outs is the best we can do,” an official at The Place Restaurant, states.
Some countries are on total lockdown and restaurants have either been shut down or resorted to take-out or delivery service due to the coronavirus pandemic. For example, Vancouver, a city in Canada, has placed an order to ban dine-in service at restaurants, Colorado, a US State closed dine-in services, only permitting take-outs and deliveries, and California reduced their restaurants’ occupancies by about half and space tables at least 6-foot apart.
As of Monday, Nigeria confirmed 36 new cases of the coronavirus. Currently, Lagos has 25 cases, Abuja has six, Ogun has two, while Ekiti, Oyo and Edo have one each. One death has been confirmed so far.
