To not understand why Harvester STILL have restrictions 'for Covid' ?

[gvdv]

We're going out for a family birthday this weekend to our local Harvester. Whilst I appreciate it may not be everyone's choice, for those of us going it suits us well, everyone likes something on the menu and we feel it's reasonably good value.

However in just speaking to a colleague who went last week, she informs me that the restrictions introduced during Covid are inexplicably still in place, and you have to have someone serving your salad at the (serve yourself) salad bar...!

I mean what is the point of this? We have zero restrictions now elsewhere aside from in a medical setting. I just don't get it. I'm quite particular about how I arrange my salad, as I'm sure are others, and having someone dish it up for you just isn't the same!

To be honest though, I wouldn't be sad to see the back of buffet style dining. I've always thought it was unhygienic, everyone touching the same utensils and in some cases poking their fingers in food (mostly kids, but some adults who should definitely behave better).

Agree. It's pretty gross.

Congratulations to the hotel on fighting the good fight and keeping us all safe. Yeah right. Cost saving and excuse for providing a lesser service. Not only has COVID been an authoritarian jobsworth's wet dream, its been a great excuse for lazy businesses to be shit.

Come on. Most people are missing the point. Covid hasn’t gone away and I think it’s stupid that all restrictions were lifted. There should be more testing, there should be better ventilation in schools and most public places. Masks should be mandatory on public transport and in enclosed poorly ventilated spaces.

But not being able to serve your own salad “because covid” and yet being able to freely move around the restaurant, congregate at the drinks machines, the bar, etc? Literally makes no sense. People who are trying to claim “oh you obviously don’t care about covid” are being ridiculous. Show me the scientific evidence that says that minor and very specific restrictions such as this, in the context of the rest of the restaurant environment, have any significant impact on the spread of the virus. There is none. They are doing it to save money. End of.

Because some people don't merely fill their bowl - as is reasonable - they pile it high, and then they don't eat it.

It's the wastage that is the issue - not the people with a genuinely large appetite - and those people can go back up for a refill.

Also, as pp mentioned, there is the issue of cross-contamination, people being careless when serving themselves, potentially meaning a whole dish might have to be scrapped.

I went to a Harvester recently and was surprised that we couldn’t serve ourselves at the salad bar. I was even more surprised when, after serving me a tablespoon of iceberg lettuce, the server asked me ‘Would you like anything else with that Madam?’ I’m not a big eater but even I want more than a spoonful of lettuce as a side salad!

That being said, after a few more attempts I did get a very nice bowl of salad and it was pretty much laid out the way I prefer it. D.C. and DH all had to go up for second helpings but that didn’t seem to be a problem.

I think the issue is businesses blaming covid when actually they are keeping restrictions for there own separate reasons which benefit them as a business. It's getting irritating seeing covid used as an excuse and insulting to those genuinely affected by it.

Exactly that @vitahelp

Not all Premier Inns are still table service we stayed in Tower Hill a few weeks ago and was back to buffet at breakfast.

…because they weren’t global pandemics

If people ever ask me to go with them to these sorts of venues I often say no because yes people and their kids are prone to spreading germs around whilst handling whatever food they like and yes the food quality often isn't great too.

However, with friends who have families with kids and not much money sometimes I go and just am careful.

This makes sense for the owners to do this with salad (they could say Covid or anything) but I agree re food wastage which must be big if they didn't put servers in place.

@CornishGem1975 Except me using there instead of their 😪

@vitahelp we can let that one slide

I fully support this decision and wish that it was extended to all self serve areas - in harvesters case, bread rolls and self serve drinks machines.

I try to avoid self serve areas altogether, anyone else read the article that they found traces of fecal and gut matter on every McDonald’s self serve touchscreen kiosk they tested in the UK? 🤮 SOME people are gross!!

“Traces of faeces have been found on every single McDonald’s touchscreen swabbed in an investigation by metro.co.uk.
Samples were taken from the new machines that have been rolled out at restaurants across the country – every one of them had coliforms.
Senior lecturer in microbiology at London Metropolitan University Dr Paul Matewele said: ‘We were all surprised how much gut and faecal bacteria there was on the touchscreen machines. These cause the kind of infections that people pick up in hospitals.” - https://metro.co.uk/2018/11/28/poo-found-on-every-mcdonalds-touchscreen-tested-8178486/amp/

Yes if you consider it was a global pandemic but we're two years plus down the line and we have vaccines and much milder variants. Now it's just another respiratory virus that we have to live with

I'm too embarrassed to ask for masses of bacon bits.

"I came for covid, I stayed for the salad savings costs" - the covid restrictions are harvester

Must be per location as that wasn't the case in the last two I've stayed in within the last 6m. Nor any other hotel.

More customers will accept “Because Covid” than “because we started doing this during covid and found it saved us money/hassle, so we want to keep it.”

Absolutely this - either money saving (private businesses) or less work for them (council-run services). I agree with PP that places should at least be honest about it: that they make more money by keeping Covid limitations and reductions in what they give you, even though the restrictions are gone and they can still work at full capacity of customers.

It was bad enough when "Because Covid" was used as a gotcha by overzealous authorities and self-appointed 'community leaders' to bully, clamp down on ridiculous harmless things and justify needlessly reduced services, even during the times of restrictions; but the golden goose has been well and truly killed now. When you consider all of the people who have died, it's actually in very poor taste to continue to exploit Covid for your own selfish ends.

Covid is still with us, but the only way we can 100% eliminate it in the human population is to cull everybody - so it would be game over anyway.

With Harvester, the fresh, unlimited salad bar is the only real stand-out feature, as the main food is very underwhelming, poor value and pretty much the same as at any mediocre chain. If they remove their USP, what do they have left to make you choose them?

Yes, in theory, you can ask for more and/or keep going back (if you don't mind constantly breaking off conversations and maybe having to squeeze past others if your seat is blocked in), but in reality, most people would feel awkward doing so. Plenty of MNers won't even poo or fart in the cubicle of a public toilet if they think somebody else might hear.

Our local harvester told me that customer feedback had told them that customers prefer being served at the salad bar by staff, rather than helping themselves so it was here to stay. A pain in the arse as you often have to hang about waiting for someone to be free to serve you.

We have recently stayed and had breakfast at premier inns and the buffets were still self service.

Exactly this.

Not just for this business, but for many. Things kept online 'to be safe'. Certain services curtailed 'because of the pandemic'. More likely because they've noticed that doing things a certain way saves them money and they now, sort of, have an excuse to keep doing them that way. Plus, they get to feel morally superior too. Win win for them!

Having once caught a bug after eating from a salad bar and having to take 3 1/2 weeks off work - most of which was spent on the toilet - I'm glad they've kept the restrictions. You can catch a lot more than covid from handling spoons at a salad bar where multiple people go who may not have washed their hands or used sanitiser at least. We've lost a lot of resistance to other illnesses over the last 2 years by not being near to people. No restaurant wants an outbreak of norovirus attributed to them.

Mine wouldn't allow bread touching either. Allowed self serve drink

I actually prefer the appointment system for our local tip. I know I can drive there and get in straightaway, no queuing, no matter what time or day of the week.

Same here. We went during a bin collection strike but even so there were loads of time slots available for the same day had we wanted them.

I agree that it's gross to think about all the faecal traces on screens and other communally-used facilities, but the plain truth must be that, if there are tiny little particles of poo everywhere you go, even after thorough cleaning, then it doesn't really matter. You don't hear of vast numbers of people keeling over and dying within 24 hours of using a McDonalds touch-screen or unlocking the door of a cubicle in a public toilet.

See people's reactions when a powerful projector light shows up a dense beam of floating dust particles in the air; and yet, the projector didn't cause the dust, which is there all around us, all the time, being breathed in and out, and it doesn't actually harm us. It's the same when you can see your breath cloud on a very cold day: everybody is constantly breathing it over everybody else, but we all mostly survive nevertheless.

You probably need to either go to Harvester and accept your salad will be served to you, or to elsewhere, where you can do it yourself. If they decided to stop people serving themselves for no reason whatsoever it's still allowed, as a private business.
I've never been to a Harvester before, but I like that you don't have to have salad that's been sneezed on, coughed on, pawed at, etc. Sounds a lot less icky than a free for all.