The new COVID-19 strain, Omicron, is rapidly spreading across the country and causing restaurants to once again close their doors. In the wake of so many closures, Bar & Restaurant spoke to David Kaplan, CEO of Death & Co., to find out how his bar teams are trained to check vaccination cards (and de-escalate angry customers).
What is Death & Co.’s process for checking vaccination cards?
First, our teams all understand the importance of vaccine requirements in an effort to get through this pandemic and ensure the highest level of safety for our teams and guests. That said, the most important part of checking a vaccine card, or approved app that stores the vaccine record, is simply matching it to the name on their ID. It’s a package deal, we need both to be allow them in. We do our best to make this a hospitable and warm experience; make the guests feel welcome while we go through this process.
How did you prepare your team for checking vaccination cards?
We have had multiple open conversations with our full teams, and specifically with our door hosts, to ensure that they feel comfortable speaking to the requirements and the reasons behind them. We’ve been happy to have a largely understanding and often encouraging response from our guests. We all want the same thing: to look out for everyone’s safety and wellbeing and to continue to get through this pandemic as quickly as possible.
How is your staff trained to handle disgruntled customers? There are so many stories of customers getting belligerent regarding vaccination cards and COVID-19 safety measures.
For better or worse there have always been the rare occasions of unhappy guests at the door - if we’re full and they want to come in, if it’s last call and they’re too late, etc. Our door teams are well versed in calmly de-escalating any situation. If a guest becomes upset about the rules (whether they’re self-imposed or have been required to follow) and our door team is not making quick progress in quelling the temperament, they get a manager involved so the manager can continue the conversation while the door host goes back to ensuring that other guest experiences don’t suffer. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and if a guest voices frustration, we will absolutely listen. Unless they are entitled to a reasonable accommodation, we are firm on policy. The very last resort is to get the authorities involved but we’re grateful that we have yet to cross that bridge.
What does your team do if they think a card is fake?
It certainly is possible to fake a card, but we like to have enough faith that our guests are providing genuine cards, and not putting our staff or other guests at risk. If there is suspicion of a fake card our door host will call on the manager on duty, similar to the situation above. In NYC the Excelsior pass makes it a bit harder to fake, so that is our preferred method there.
David Kaplan is the CEO of Gin & Luck, Proprietor at Proprietors LLC and the co-founder of Death & Company. He is also a member of Bar & Restaurant Expo’s Executive Council.
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