The iconic Coffee House in College Street is set to open from Thursday after a gap of over three months. A crucial meeting of employees was held on Wednesday morning and they decided to open the joint, following which an extensive disinfection of the two-storey set-up was carried out. The Jadavpur Coffee House, run by the same cooperative, is also set to open in the next 72 hours.
“Now we are ready to reopen the facility for the Coffee House regulars. We welcome all once again to our joint. We also solicit cooperation from our loyal customers to strictly adhere to the social distancing norms,” said an official of the cooperative society that runs Coffee House.
Several crucial decisions, though, have been taken for the College Street Coffee House to ensure that social distancing is maintained. “We usually operated from 9am in the morning till 9pm at night. However, for now, we will be operational from 11am till 6pm. Instead of the 50 tables that catered to a minimum of 200 clients, we will keep just 25 tables across the two floors. Not more than 100 customers will be allowed at a time. The fact that there will be only 25 tables will ensure that more than six-feet social distance is maintained between two tables. Not more than four people will be allowed to sit at one table,” said Tapas Pahari, secretary of the cooperative society that runs the Coffee House.
Though all 65 workers are back from the districts and even Bihar and Odisha, they will be working at 50% staff strength on a rotational basis. All food will be served on use and throw dishes. Even the cutlery will be made of plastic. At the Jadavpur Coffee House where there were 20 tables, only 10 will be kept operational.
“Sanitizing is a major issue and those wearing masks will be allowed inside. But then the co-operative society members unanimously decided that opening the Coffee House is the first priority. A vital step will also include a request to patrons “not to stay back on the floor for too long.” “Based on the ground situation, we might need to request our customers to leave beyond a certain point of time to maintain social distancing norms,” said Pahari.
The North division police, whom the Coffee House authorities had met a couple of times recently, including an informal chat last week, said they would go by the government directives. “They have to maintain social distancing and follow the social distancing norms,” said an officer from Amherst Street police station.
Source:Times of India
