As COVID-19 cases remain elevated, due in large part to the spread of the delta variant, restaurants are forced to respond both to changing local legislation and local attitudes, charting their own course. While much has been made of consumers’ response to vaccine mandates, nearly as challenging is the way that these protective measures can strain employer-employee relations at a time when restaurants are already struggling to maintain enough staff to remain in operation and meet demand.
On Monday (Sept. 13), hospitality technology platform Resy, which is owned by American Express, announced a partnership with secure identity company CLEAR to make the latter’s Health Pass technology available for free to Resy’s restaurant customers.
The feature allows users to add their vaccine status information, either inputting the details manually or utilizing CLEAR’s relationships with vaccine providers. Additionally, Health Pass can also integrate with clinical laboratories’ databases to show test results, and users can take a health survey that asks about common symptoms.
For restaurants enforcing COVID-19 protective measures, whether they are following local legislation or taking their own safety precautions, features such as this may take out some of the guesswork. They may also mitigate the discomfort that could arise from having these conversations face-to-face with employees who may have strong opinions about these protective measures. A PYMNTS survey from March found that around 17% of all adult U.S. consumers feel some degree of skepticism toward COVID-19 vaccines, and the issue has only gotten more contentious since then.
See also: The PYMNTS COVID Data Compendium: The Past, Present And Future Of The New Digital Consumer
“Restaurants right now are in a difficult position where they’re trying to make up the rules themselves, because there really isn’t great or uniform guidance for what they should do,” Andrew Robbins, co-founder and CEO at SaaS customer experience management (CXM) solutions provider Paytronix, told Karen Webster. “When a municipality like San Francisco or New York takes the lead, that will take a lot of pressure off the restaurants, because then they’re just implementing something. They’re implementing a mandate for how to behave, and it’s consistent across restaurants.”
Read more: Vaccine Mandates Are A Lose-Lose For Frontline Restaurant Workers, Says Paytronix CEO
Both of the cities that Robbins mentioned have passed bills requiring restaurant staff to be vaccinated, as have a number of other areas across the United States. Conversely, according to Ballotpedia, 20 states currently prohibit vaccine mandates, either through governors’ executive order or through state legislatures’ actions. Now, President Biden announced Thursday (Sept. 9) that the Department of Labor will soon require businesses with 100 or more employees to mandate either vaccination or weekly COVID-19 tests.
“While we appreciate the intent of this executive order, we hope that the Administration will work with us to take into consideration the unique operations of restaurants when creating the guidelines for implementation,” said Sean Kennedy, EVP of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association, in a statement.
Meanwhile, many restaurants have been forced to shift away from indoor dining toward outdoor dining and off-premises channels in the face of rising COVID-19 cases, and employment at bars and restaurants is falling. As long as the virus remains a threat, there will be no winning option for the restaurant industry.
Related news: In-Restaurant Dining Starts to Shut as Delta Variant Cases Increase
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More