Contactless serving in the Serres

How design helps to overcome the challenges of social distancing

For the use of the Serres in the restaurant we are constantly making adjustments. Not only to the greenhouses themselves, but also to the way we carry out our service. What problems do we encounter? And how can we solve them in a creative manner?

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Serving from a distance - Anisa Xhomaqi

Serving planks

To ensure that our guests and staff can keep their distance easily, we have developed special long serving planks on which food for two people can be placed. The servers only have to slide the plank into the cabin and don't have to enter the space.

The planks also minimise the walking the staff have to do to serve the greenhouses. They are placed quite far from each other, especially compared to a normal restaurant setting. Because the planks can carry the dinner for two people at once, it saves a lot of walking back and forth.

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Serving at Mediamatic ETEN Serres Séparées - Safer water side dining in Amsterdam during a pandemic We were testing the setup and the ways of serving whilst waiting for permission to re-open our restaurant and art space. After these tests during lock-down, we went viral with the concept. So as soon as permitted, we started to offer really nice plant-based dinner in our greenhouses on the Amsterdam water side of the Oosterdok. We had a great run from june 1st on t ill the second wave stopped even our super safe restaurant again in October 2020.   Of course, these chambres séparées are… Willem Velthoven

Later we also further adjusted the planks so they can carry the drinks as well. This way our service is even more efficient and safe, because the glasses don't have to be touched more than needed.

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Still from video Serres Séparées by Mariano Galán - Serving with dinner planks that carry both food and drinks.

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Serving from a distance - Anisa Xhomaqi

The weather

In addition, we have to account for the weather when serving the food. The staff need to walk 20 to 30 meters outside to serve some of the greenhouses. If it rains, the food gets wet, and if it storms it could blow away. That is why we now use square shaped cloches to protect the food. Cloches didn't exist in this shape, so we created some ourselves using a rectangular planter and a door handle.

To protect our employees during bad weather, we have rain ponchos by the sustainable clothing brand ByBrown.

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Cloche -