Majority of operators have no plans for temperature checks for customers - MCA Poll

Just one in five operators are planning to introduce temperature checks when customers arrive at their pub or restaurant, according to the latest weekly Hospitality Leaders Poll by MCA Insight/HIM.

And the vast majority – 65% – have no plans to introduce temperature checks alongside other safety measures, with 41% saying it would be impractical to manage, 12% saying it was the customer’s responsibility, and 9% because of the cost. Another 15% are still undecided.

The poll also revealed that prospects for trade in the initial four weeks of reopening look bleak, with 40% of respondents expecting sales to be somewhere between 21% and 40% of pre-coronavirus levels. Sixteen percent think turnover will be less than 20%. Just 5% think sales will be over 61% of what they were before for the first four weeks.

The inevitable impact of the coronavirus on sales has led to predictions that prices will rise to compensate, and the poll found that 26% of operators plan to hike the price of drinks and 22% will raise prices on food. But the majority (60%) plan to keep drinks prices the same and 52% will make no changes to the price of food. Just 3% of pubs plan to cut prices to lure in drinkers and 4% plan to cut prices on food.

The poll spoke to 438 founders or board level operators across restaurants, pubs and food to go.