After two months of compulsory confinement and two weeks since the State of Calamity came into force and the first phase of the lockdown plan was implemented, which included the reopening of hairdressers and bookshops, the health and government authorities have decided, in view of the optimism emanating from the Covid-19 pandemic figures in our country, to move on to the 2nd phase of the gradual lockdown plan.
This new phase is characterised by the opening of high street shops of up to 400 m2 (or larger, by decision of the local authority), restaurants, cafés, pastry shops and terraces. Heavily penalised by the compulsory closure to the public to which they were subjected as a result of the declaration of the State of Emergency, the economic agents linked to the Food Services are now facing one of the biggest battles of their lives.
At the start of the second fortnight after lockdown, restaurants, cafés, pastry shops and terraces will be required to comply with strict hygiene and safety rules. Among the main ones are the obligation to maintain a physical distance of two metres between all people circulating inside the establishments by reducing their capacity (up to 50%) and also the need to guarantee proper hand hygiene for customers and employees.
Manual of Procedures suggested by the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) for the reopening of Restauração
- Catering establishments should prioritise "the use of outdoor spaces for customers, such as terraces (whenever possible) and take-away services".
- It is also recommended that establishments promote and encourage prior booking of places.
- Standing, due to the difficulty in guaranteeing a safe distance between people, is not recommended, as are self-service operations such as buffets and food dispensers that involve contact between customers.
- The establishments must provide alcohol-based solution dispensers, preferably installed in the entrance areas of the establishments, as well as reinforcing the cleaning and sanitising protocols for all areas of frequent contact.
- Removing decorative motifs from tables and replacing individual menus with ones that don't need to be handled directly by customers.
- Establishments must ensure that all workers and customers are made aware of the rules, correct hand washing, respiratory etiquette and other personal and environmental hygiene measures.
- Restaurants must draw up/update their own Covid-19 contingency plans.
In addition to defining rules for the reopening of restaurants, the manual defined by the DGS also covers customers. Customers must sanitise their hands with an alcohol-based solution or soap and water when entering and leaving establishments and, in particular, before meals, as well as respecting the minimum safety distance of two metres and complying with respiratory etiquette.
Customers should also consider the use of masks in take-away services that are installed inside establishments, always using them appropriately and giving preference to payment by means that do not involve physical contact between the worker and the customer, such as the Contactless PIN (automatic payment terminal) and the contactless card.
This incentive to use and adopt contactless payments, which reduces the risk of Covid-19 spreading to the detriment of other methods, is further underlined by the decision to increase the maximum amount per transaction through a payment terminal with integrated contactless technology from €20 to €50,
In line with the needs arising from these rules, REDUNIQ offers automatic payment solutions (physical and mobile POS) with contactless technology, ready to accept cards from the main international payment systems, and even to allow its customers to pay in their currency of originThe merchant gains an additional benefit by sharing the conversion value. As well as preventing the TPA and card (or smartphone, wearable, etc.) from being passed around, these contactless terminals also allow the economic agent, among other things, to reduce cash handling costs (optimised payment process and easier accounting), higher average transactions and even give them the guarantee that the payment is actually made.
How do contactless payments work?
The way everything works is simple and secure. The operator puts in the amount and turns the terminal over to the customer and it is always the customer who chooses the payment method - chip or contactless, as the card must not leave the customer's hand. This method is safer for the business, which doesn't touch the customer's card. Then all you have to do is bring the contactless card to the contactless machine (physical POS) and make the payment. payment up to 50€According to the new rules, you don't need to enter your card PIN if you haven't yet reached the overall amount of 150 euros per day or a maximum of 5 transactions per day.
If the option is to pay with the smartphone, the customer only has to unlock their mobile phone to authorise payment.
When we combine REDUNIQ and contactless payment terminals, we are talking not only about increased hygiene, but also about a safe option for the merchant-customer pairing, who will be sure that they are using the only contactless technology in Portugal with PCI DSS certification, which assures them that the entire payment process is truly secure in all its dimensions.
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