OSAKA -- The spread of the coronavirus has forced restaurants at hotels in the Kansai region to change their strategies for resuming buffet options so that guests can enjoy a meal without worry.
Restaurants in such hotels have resumed a series of buffet-style meals that had been suspended due to the virus.
While maintaining the appeal of an all-you-can-eat menu, the restaurants feature various measures to prevent virus infections such as by having a restaurant staff dish out the food to each customer or limiting customers.
Restaurant Serena at Hotel Nikko Osaka in Chuo Ward, Osaka, resumed its buffet on June 20, after having suspended its services since March 6 due to the virus.
Customers used to serve themselves on one plate from the variety of dishes set out. After the restaurant resumed the buffet, however, it changed to a system in which a staff member goes around to each customers' tables with a main dish, such as steaks and seafood on a serving cart. The staff member then serves the meal to each customer.
"I feel safe as the restaurant has a good infection control system," said a 26-year-old company employee from Tennoji Ward, in the same city. "I don't have to go get food myself, so I can enjoy a leisurely meal."
"The best part of the buffet is that you can eat as much as you want from the array of food on offer," an official of the hotel said. "We were looking for a way to get people to come to our restaurant free of worries."
Reviewing a conventional method would require hotels to hire more staffers. Costs for anti-splash shields and disposable plastic gloves is also high.
Nevertheless, hotels -- which have seen a sharp drop in guests due to the virus --want to see profits from a buffet that can attract customers, a source close to the hotel said.
Hotel Royal Classic Osaka in Chuo Ward also resumed dinner services on July 1. In the all-you-can-eat system, when customers order at their table, a restaurant staff member comes to the table and portions out servings of the meal onto a small plate for each customer.
The restaurant, which resumed lunch services in May, provides customers with only a weekly course meal.
The Hotel New Otani Osaka in Chuo Ward has revived a buffet menu of sweets that include mangoes, melons and other fine fruits. The restaurant will be open through Aug. 30 on weekends and holidays, except for the bon holiday period.
The restaurant will cut its capacity in half to 45 people and set a 90-minute time limit to allow enough space between each seating area.
Meanwhile, the Ritz-Carlton Osaka and Hotel Granvia Osaka, both in Osaka, do not plan to open their buffets for the time being as it is not easy to ensure guests' safety.
Kyoto Tower Hotel in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, also does not plan to open its buffet at their beer garden this summer.
"Gloves and shields could be blown away by the wind, and if that happens, there's no protection against infection," the hotel's official said.
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