Hotel & Restaurant Sector
‘Rush’ of applications expected as pubs can apply for licences to open as restaurants
Irish Examiner – 13.05.2020
Under the government’s roadmap to lifting Covid 19 restrictions restaurants and cafes can open in phase three, from June 29, but pubs, bars, nightclubs, and casinos have to keep their doors closed until phase five begins on August 10th. The plan states that this affects venues where social distancing and strict cleaning can be complied with. Today an application was made by the operators of the Two Sisters pub in Rathfarnham in Dublin to be certified as a restaurant. Counsel said that the licensing court was going to get a rush of pubs saying they are restaurants but they will have to prove they have previously operated as restaurants as well.
Flipdish extends food ordering service to include hotels
Hospitality Ireland - 13.05.2020
Dublin-based digital food ordering solution for independent eateries Flipdish has announced that it has extended its services to include hotel kitchens in Ireland to assist in setting up hotel restaurants for online orders and deliveries during the COVID-19 crisis. Among the first hotels that have signed up for Flipdish's services is Scholars Townhouse Hotel of Drogheda, Co. Louth, the owner of which, Mark McGowan, stated, "When we started offering the takeaway service, there was only one other eatery in the area offering takeaway at the time, so we didn't know how people would respond. Fortunately, people are really enjoying the option of being able to 'eat out, but eat in' that ordering from us is affording them, and it's great to have that community support. "Flipdish helped us get up and running almost immediately, so we were able to get our business back up and running as quickly as possible, which has made a huge difference for us."