With coronavirus seemingly under control, bars, cafes and restaurants look set to open in July and Liverpool consultancy Foursquare aims to help them trade safely. Tony McDonough reports

Hospitality consultancy Foursquare Group is offering a ‘pay-what-you-can’ service to bars, cafes and restaurants in the Liverpool city region looking to resume trading.

With the coronavirus epidemic seemingly under control across the UK the Government is considering allowing hospitality businesses to start welcoming customers again from early July.

However, social distancing rules will still apply and Liverpool-based Foursquare has designed a Covid-Safe package to allow bars, cafes and restaurants to reopen while keeping the risk to staff and customers to a minimum.

The pack comprises guidance and templates which all businesses can use to carry out risk assessments and plan their safe and successful reopening. It has been carefully designed to meet new and existing compliance requirements.

Also included in the pack, is a face-to-face audit by a Foursquare safety professional to independently verify that each business is ready to reopen.

Businesses taking part in the scheme will receive a Covid-Safe certificate to display on their websites and window fronts, which will boost consumer confidence and contribute to a faster industry re-start.

Foursquare claims its ‘pay-what-you-can’ pricing model is the first of its kind in the UK and makes the support accessible to as many businesses as possible at a time when they need it most.

A ‘suggested price’ is provided by Foursquare Group for the pack, but the actual price paid is decided entirely by those businesses who use it. This is based on how much they feel is affordable to them, rather than a fixed price.

A number of independent businesses have already took advantage of Foursquare’s offer including Duke Street Food and Drink Market, Bold Street Coffee, Maray, Leaf, Bacaro, Free State Kitchen, floatation therapy centre Float Planet, The Brain Charity café, Ropes and Twines and So Salsa.

Liam Jones, Foursquare Group’s founder and chief executive, said: “I started Foursquare Group back in January 2019 and since then we’ve been on a mission to make compliance as simple and cost-effective for independents as possible.

“These businesses have all the same regulations to meet as the chains they’re competing against with a fraction of the resources, so we try to level the playing field as much as we can. Covid-19 has devastated our beloved hospitality and retail sector and we had to step up and help the businesses we serve.”