FAQ's

SBDC Questions and Answers

COVID-19 Food Business Retail

How can I keep my public office, retail, and food service business safe?

The latest direction from CA Gov. Gavin Newsom is for bars, wineries, and pubs is to close. Restaurants are asked to reduce capacity to ensure customers sit at tables at least six feet apart and to offer curbside take out service instead if possible.

For brick and mortar businesses who can’t deliver services virtually, The Department of Industrial Relations has compiled some very useful guidelines.

Local businesses have started following some of these following the extra hygiene protocols for public spaces

  • the usual touching, sneezing/coughing protocols
  • requiring hourly handwashing for employees who work with the public
  • scheduling multiple daily disinfectant wipe-downs of door handles, faucet handles, front counters, and other areas subject to frequent touching or droplets from coughs and sneezes
  • providing kleenex, hand sanitizer, and open (no-touch) trash cans in public areas
  • requiring employees to bring their own cups, dishware, and silverware or use disposable materials instead of communal kitchen items
  • using work sharing/flex work and self-isolation protocols to make sure employees – remain at least six feet away from each other and from customers
  • sending sick workers with any respiratory illness symptoms home until they’re fully recovered
  • instituting a policy that requires employees in vulnerable groups to stay home
  • instituting a policy that asks any employee returning from international travel self-quarantine for 14 days