Iloilo City restaurants seat stuffed toys for distancing

BEARS AT TABLE Dining gets cuddly when you sit next to plush teddy bear stuffies here at the Royal Zhang Palace Restaurant inside the Grand Xing Imperial Hotel in Iloilo City as part of the establishment’s physical distancing measures. —PHOTO FROM FB PAGE OF GRAND XING IMPERIAL HOTEL

ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — When dining in some restaurants here, don’t be surprised to be seated beside a cuddly teddy bear or Micky Mouse.

The stuffed toys have been placed to ensure physical distancing among diners as part of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) protocols.

The city is under a modified general community quarantine that allows restaurants to operate dine-in services at half their seating capacity.

At Royal Zhang Palace in Grand Xing Imperial Hotel on Iznart Street, teddy bears and other stuffed toys are seated alternately in four-seat tables to keep customers apart. This means only two will be seated at each table.

Ronito Medianista, head waiter of the Chinese restaurant, said the idea came from hotel managers to prompt physical distancing among diners.

To diners, the idea of sitting with 22 mostly teddy bear toys in brown and white colors appears to be refreshing. “They are excited because they have ‘company’ when dining here,” Medianista told the Inquirer.

At Razon’s By Glenn Iloilo in the Festive Walk Mall, dining table mates include Walt Disney cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Goofy, and just seeing them is enough to cheer one up.

Free or for sale?

“Our customers are happy when they see the stuffed toys. We have received many inquiries if the toys are free or for sale,” said Patricia Kaye Mislang, the store’s franchisee who collected the cuddly toys while working at Walt Disney Parks and Hotels in California.

She said the restaurant was mulling over the possibility of selling the toys or giving them for free for a minimum order at customers’ requests.

After reeling from months of closure, city restaurants are just starting to resume dine-in operations though many have offered mainly takeout and delivery services following the city’s relaxation of its restrictions on June 1.

In Capiz province, the Roxas City council has passed a resolution “urging and encouraging” dine-in guests of food establishments to bring their own utensils as part of the health protocols.

Besides, this is more practical and avoids the use of plastic disposable utensils, it said.