Social distancing is a massive hurdle for the hospitality industry but, this has been well and truly cleared by the St Moritz Hotel & Spa in Cornwall thanks to their innovative, socially distanced restaurant which has been nicknamed The Anti-Social Club.
Adapting to the ‘new norm’ has been no easy task for the hospitality industry, and it is not something any business can take lightly. The industry was built upon the exact opposite of social distancing, which has meant that many businesses have had to put their thinking caps on and re-invest to ensure their livelihoods.
One such business who’ve addressed the issues and created an exciting solution is the St Moritz Hotel & Spa. With a considerable amount of thought and planning, they’ve designed and built a new restaurant which allows guests to enjoy the beautiful Cornish coastline while adhering to distancing guidelines.
The new restaurant was conceived by founders Hugh and Steve Ridgway and Jonathan Domé, the director and the St Moritz Director of Restaurants. What’s interesting is it doesn’t just meet government guidelines, it exceeds them and promises a unique and exclusive dining experience for guests.
The new dining concept, nicknamed ‘The Anti-Social Club’, has sixteen private dining rooms with a maximum of 96 covers. It is said to incorporate elements from private members clubs, beach clubs, pop-up-restaurants and of course, private dining rooms.
The Anti-Social Club is designed so that all individual dining rooms are accessible from the outside. All the food arrives via a set of hatches, and the service comes from the central atrium.
The dining concept is rather ingenious as the St Moritz service team will not need to go into the dining rooms. Another benefit of this concept is every room can be cleared entirely and appropriately cleaned, then re-set-up, to meet all requirements, between each dining party.
The award-winning Cornish agency, Absolute, was responsible for the interiors. They took their inspiration from the white art deco design of the hotel, adding classic coastal stripes and a subtle Miami colour-pop palette.
The menus are headed by Jonathan Domé and pay tribute to Cornish food suppliers and producer. In total, the hotel employs at least 65 staff year-round, at least 20 of these will be responsible for the Anti-Social Club during the high-season.
St Moritz Hotel & Spa intends to re-open all the hotel rooms, self-catering apartments and villas, as well as launch the first Anti-Social Club summer ‘pop-up’ restaurant, on 4th July, with all operations in line with or surpassing, all expected Government requirements.
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