Prague restaurants are closed for the next 10 days, but kitchens are open as focus turns to delivery

While restaurants across Prague must close to the public for the next 10 days, they are still in business fulfilling delivery orders

Jason Pirodsky

Written by Jason Pirodsky Published on 14.03.2020 11:57:19 (updated on 14.03.2020) Reading time: 2 minutes

With few exceptions, restaurants across Prague and the Czech Republic (and most other shops) must close to the public for the next 10 days after an unexpected announcement from the Czech government this morning in ongoing attempts to slow the spread of coronavirus in the country.

But that doesn’t mean Prague restaurants are shutting down for the time being. Instead, many venues are still in business and transitioning to fulfill delivery orders on a large scale.

Dáme jídlo, one of the largest delivery services in the Czech Republic that offers meals from hundreds of restaurants, says they are unaffected by the new measures.

“The operation of the company Dáme jídlo remains uninterrupted,” says CEO Filip Fingl in a press statement.

“We are working with our restaurant partners to continue to ensure the availability of our services throughout the Czech Republic and at the same time to support their operation, which would otherwise have to be interrupted for at least ten days in the vast majority of cases.”

“At the same time, we are ready to accept new restaurants that have not used distribution services by this time, and offer them the ability to use the Dáme jídlo platform.”

Prague delivery service Wolt is also still in operation, and has launched a new contactless system where orders can be paid for online and dropped off at your door.

“We’re still here for you and delivering great food,” the company says on its website.

“We do everything we can to protect our customers, couriers and partner restaurants. Please select the contactless delivery option when ordering. Thanks, dobrou chuť and watch out for yourself!”

The Ambiente Group, which operates more than a dozen highly-rated restaurants in Prague including the popular Lokál franchise, is also keeping the kitchen open at most locations.

The restaurant group’s waiters, who would otherwise be out of a job for the next 10 days, are instead being transitioned to food delivery couriers.

“Our restaurants now have supplies of raw materials for the weekend and therefore we are dealing with their processing,” said Ambiente’s Šárka Hamanová.

“At this time, the Ambiente businesses, which include a grocery store, remain partially open, cook in some restaurants and take food and deliver them, while others have closed completely.”

“We have strengthened the operation of bakeries and the assortment that is suitable for sale with you. Since we have a lot of wait staff out of work at the moment, we have transferred them to distribution services, which conversely solves their lack of staff.”

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