Your guide to how we’ll all go back to life once restrictions lift, and the changes we can expect to stay with us for a long time

A new series detailing all the changes, big and small, you can expect as life starts to get back to normal in SA begins with restaurants, bars and cafes – including interactive visual guides and an explainer video.

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A hand sanitiser, rather than a wine list, will likely be the first item offered to people as they return to restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars across SA after the coronavirus lockdown.

When they flick through freshly laminated menus, shared plates will be missing.

In the pubs, pool tables and dart boards will be gone. A quick beer or a tidy gin at the bar on Friday night after work won’t be a stand-up get-together any more, either.

Drinks will have to be taken sitting down at a table, 1.5m apart from the next. Temperature checks on entry are also likely.

The Sunday Mail has spent the past week speaking to hospitality industry experts, restaurateurs, publicans and cafe and bar owners to help unravel what the “new normal” might be as SA tentatively emerges from the pandemic, in the first part of a week-long series called Life ... But Not As We Know It. Future parts will take a close look at returning to the office, shopping, open inspections and large scale events.

From tomorrow, the State Government will ease restrictions, allowing al fresco dining – without alcohol – at cafes and restaurants under strict conditions. To start, Premier Steven Marshall wants a maximum of 10 outdoor diners for each venue and at a density of one person for every 4sq m.

The “one in four” rule reduces capacity by up to 25 per cent – making opening unviable for many venues. Most the Sunday Mail spoke to plan to reopen next month or July.

Mr Marshall has said that providing there was no new coronavirus outbreaks and that everyone did the right thing, a phase two launch date of June 8 could see seated dining inside restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars.

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No more than 20 people at a time would be allowed and the one in four rule would continue to apply.

“There will be no bar service,” said Oliver Brown, co-owner of NOLA Adelaide, The Stag Public House and Anchovy Bandit. NOLA – an East End boutique whisky and beer bar with a restaurant licence – will run well below its 185-person licensed capacity.

Mr Brown said the usually casual, bustling bar could revert to bookings only over three dinner seatings between 5.30pm and 8pm to make operating a 20-person seating limit viable.

He said perspex-screened dividing booths may also need to be added.

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” said Greg Hobby, CEO of Taylor and Holmes catering, which owns three cafes and Bridgewater Mill restaurant. The latter is set to open next month.

A new A3 fold-out laminated menu will feature lots of smaller individual dishes no longer under the entree, main and desert subheadings.

“We are reinventing the dining experience because we think people will really want to engage with each other more over a longer meal,” Mr Hobby said.

“We will also be redesigning the restaurant and table positions under guidelines for those who have booked.”

Restaurant and Catering Australia, the Australian Hotels Association and Tourism Accommodation Australia have provided state and federal governments with a set of guidelines to enable the safe reopening of venues.

The proposed new re-entry standards cover venue capacity limits, safe distancing between tables and patrons, sanitisation procedures, mandatory training of staff and more (see graphic at right). There are slight differences in the recommendations between industry groups.

The AHA/TAA recommends temperature checks of staff and patrons where possible, as well as 30-minute interval cleaning of high-traffic touch points, such as door handles and handrails.

The RCA has proposed table staff wear disposable gloves when collecting crockery, cutlery and glassware from tables.

The proposed new re-entry standards, which differ slightly between the groups, cover venue capacity limits, safe distancing between tables and patrons, sanitisation procedures, mandatory training of staff and more (see breakout).

“It’s going to be very difficult,” said AHA (SA) CEO Ian Horne. “But it is what it is; we are accepting it’s part of the pain that we have to endure to get to the other side. At the very least, we have a road map now and we can start planning.”