Greenpass and Dining, a Balance Between Pleasure and Safety

There is a fine line beyond which indulging in a dinner at a restaurant is no longer a pleasure. In times of COVID, that line is marked by the right mix that a commercial establishment must be able to find by first arranging the tables in a correct and easily usable way, balancing the customers between internal environments and any open spaces and again making sure that the staff meeting the anti-contagion measures. All elements that are positively experienced by customers together with others including, in decreasing order of importance, the use of personal protective equipment (DPI), the type of lighting, without forgetting the request to answer, upon entry, the questionnaire on their own state of health and any dangerous contacts. "However, the questionnaire is not very well liked by customers and, in the scale of the less popular aspects, it arrives immediately after the separation of the tables by means of plexiglass dividers. The so-called clinical screening is seen as an excessive intervention and therefore makes the experience of a dinner or lunch in a restaurant less pleasant ", declares Luca Buccoliero, Bocconi's Department of Marketing, who together with Elena Bellio, Bocconi University and Ca 'Foscari University of Venice, and Livia Luciani Ranier Gaudiosi di Canosa (Bocconi University), wrote the paper "The restaurant experience at the times of coronavirus: the 'new normal' between delight and safety."

"It is therefore a question of identifying a balance of prevention measures that is functional to the prevention of coronavirus but without risking to upset customers", emphasizes Buccoliero who conducted the research between May and November 2020, at a time of reopening but when there was still no Green Pass.

It is true that in the formulation of a final judgment the quality of the menu, the care (including hygiene) with which the dishes are prepared, the prices applied and the atmosphere created by the restaurant always remain central. But now, with the introduction of the health passport, "it will be necessary to find a new point of balance and, above all, we must not risk reducing too much security measures just because there has been a preventive check of the Greenpass. After all," concludes Buccoliero," meals are often eaten indoors and this is a virus that is transmitted by air. Controlling the Green Pass does not exempt you from observing the preventive measures adopted so far."