Newcastle cafes and restaurants are taking a mixed approach to recording customers' personal details as coronavirus restrictions ease.
Some eateries, including Hamilton institution Eurobar, are insisting on customers writing down their names and numbers or having the COVIDSafe app on their phones before sitting down.
Other cafes visited by the Newcastle Herald do not have procedures in place to contact customers if a virus outbreak occurs.
The NSW government's updated public health orders last week require those attending weddings, funerals and religious services to provide their name and telephone number.
But the rules do not apply to cafes, restaurants and pubs.
The Hunter New England Health health district has not had a new confirmed case of COVID-19 in a month.
But HNEH public health physician David Durrheim said measures such as recording cafe and restaurant customers' contact information would help trace their close contacts and contain any clusters of infection.
"Ideally what we'd like is for them to record everyone who is going to be seated in their restaurant," he said.
"The app will be helpful, but not everybody has downloaded the app yet."
Industry body Restaurant & Catering Australia's best-practice guidelines say food and drink businesses should "encourage" customers to sign in and download the COVIDSafe app as a condition of entry.
Eurobar co-owner Tania Lambie urged traders in the food industry to complete an R&CA online course on how to operate.
She said some people had resisted leaving their details since Eurobar reopened to dine-in customers on Friday, but most had been happy to comply.
She said the risk of the industry being forced to close again outweighed the effort of asking people to sign in.
"We've got hospital-grade sanitising stations, we've had to retrain our staff," Ms Lambie said.
"We don't want to be shut down. We've been shut down for too long.
"This is our 13th year, so we've been here a long time."
She expected the government to introduce legislation compelling restaurant and club customers to supply their contact information.
