Reopening Logistics

A guide to a safe, thorough, and organized reopening.

Overview
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There are multiple tools listed that provide a roadmap to reopening, and no tool is better than the other; feel free to browse through all of the options to determine which you think will work best for your business. Use this section to give yourself a broad overview. The road to reopening will generally include the following stages:

1. Develop your COVID policy and strategy: What aspects of your business need to change in light of COVID? How will you record COVID situations? How will you ensure that your space is safe to work in? The resources in this category as well as the Employee & Guest Safety Protocol category can give you ideas. 
2. Understand Human Resources and rehiring practices: Ensure employees are being rehired properly, as well as being trained on new COVID sanitation practices. 
3. Rethink your business model: This pandemic has caused many businesses to become less profitable due to lower revenue and higher costs in chemicals, delivery fees, and more. Look at your profit and loss statement to see where you can cut costs (without sacrificing safety) and where you can increase revenue. 
4. Update your operations plan: Reach out to any vendors, make changes to scheduling and training to promote proper sanitation and social distancing, and more, to make sure you’re ready to hit the ground running on reopening day. 
5. Market your reopening: Make sure your guests know you’re open for business, and let them know what you’re doing to keep them and your employees safe! 
6. Reopen: Start operating again while practicing proper sanitation and social distancing precautions. Congratulations! 

Resources & Tools

Oyster Sunday: Reopening Critical Path for Independent Restaurants

• Languages: English
• Summary: Provides a checklist of all tasks that need to be completed prior to reopening, with a strong focus on compliance with city, state, and federal requirements for operating a restaurant. Some tasks might not be applicable to your specific restaurant, depending on your business model.
• How to Use This Resource: Use this tool as a checklist of all tasks that need to be completed prior to reopening.

ReOpen Hospitality: Reopen Guide by Timeline

• Languages: English
• Summary: Provides a timeline of when to work on certain tasks necessary for reopening in the COVID world. This resource provides tips and templates for various phases of reopening, with a strong focus on developing your business’s COVID strategy. This resource has also been posted under “Employee and Guest Safety”. Some phases might not be applicable to your specific restaurant, depending on your business model.
• How to Use This Resource: Use this tool to organize when to start each phase of your reopening checklist. Some of the cards will also have templates of documents they recommend having in your restaurant. 

CDC: Reopening Guidance for Cleaning and Disinfecting Public Spaces, Workplaces, Businesses, Schools, and Homes

• Languages: English
• Summary: The CDC has provided guidelines in English on how to reopen businesses and public spaces. Provides general information on how to minimize the risk of COVID-19, and how a business should develop, implement, and maintain their COVID-19 plan. 
• How to Use This Resource: Use this official federal guidance as a general rule of thumb on how to reopen any public, retail business. This resource is not specific to restaurants, so it should be used in conjunction with the other resources listed in this section. 

Think!Chinatown: Guidance for Reopening Restaurants (CDC)

• Languages: Chinese
• Summary: Think!Chinatown has translated Excerpts from the CDC Reopening Guidance that focus on restaurants. This site includes various resources translated in Chinese, with a focus on official government guidances related to reopening businesses and applying for loans. This resource has also been included in the [FUNDING/LEGAL] section. 
• How to Use This Resource: Use this translated version of the CDC Reopening Guidance as a general guide to reopening with a proper COVID-19 plan in place.

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Have more questions? Need more help? Please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]. 

Note: Any linked resources and tools are property of the indicated organization, not Send Chinatown Love Inc. Send Chinatown Love Inc does not accept liability for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of reliance on this collection of resources.