“We’ve partnered with the National Restaurant Association for a restaurant safety app called VirusSAFE Pro,” says Restaurant Impossible host Robert Irvine. “When you say you’ve done something, say you’re cleaning the refrigerator, and you’re actually outside smoking a cigarette, I know because of geotagging that you didn’t clean that when you said you did. It’s really about accountability of duty of care. What we’re trying to do is put back the consumer of customer confidence through transparency.”

Robert Irvine, celebrity chef and host of Restaurant Impossible, discusses the launch of his new app VirusSAFE Pro which helps restaurants and consumers monitor the implementation of safety protocols. Irvine says the key is restoring “consumer confidence” in restaurant dining:

VirusSAFE Pro App Helps Restaurants Stay Healthy

We’ve actually partnered with the National Restaurant Association for a (restaurant safety app) called VirusSAFE Pro. It enables checklist reminders on your phone so that COVID-19 safety protocols are done in a timely manner and all the protocols are completed. You think about standing operating procedures for restaurants especially in the COVID-19 times where we’re looking at masks and gloves and everything that’s clean. 

We’ve all been to airports and restaurants where people say that things have been done and they actually haven’t. VirusSAFE Pro is an app for phones that also has a desktop which helps with mitigation. When you say you’ve done something, say you’re cleaning the refrigerator, and you’re actually outside smoking a cigarette, I know because of geotagging that you didn’t clean that when you said you did. It’s really about accountability of duty of care. What we’re trying to do is put back the consumer of customer confidence through transparency. That’s the biggest part. It’s simple. It’s easy to use. It provides verification of stuff done in real-time.

Right Now The Problem Is Consumer Confidence

It’s 99 percent fail-safe as opposed to a pen and a piece of paper. I can actually tell you where you are and what you are doing. This is the only consumer-facing app that when you’re verified and you’re using that system you can put a check and verified sticker in your window. A consumer can then take their smartphone use it on the QR code and find out exactly what’s been done for the last 24 hours or 48 hours of your protocols. That allows a guest who has two kids that are below three years old or an 89-year-old grandmother to feel safe to go back into your restaurant. Right now the problem is consumer confidence. 

It’s tracking everything that we’ve done for two years or more. You know what it’s like right now, everybody’s saying I got sick in your restaurant. Now I’ve got this mitigation tool to say we have done our best practices and protocols and our duty of care to make sure you are your safest. There is no system that’s 100 percent clear but this is 99 percent that we can follow what you’ve done, how you’ve done it, and make you want to get back to a restaurant. If you don’t do this and this is a big don’t, we already are at 30 to 40 percent of failure with the restaurants that will not be able to come past this pandemic. That is a huge amount when we’ve got 11 million folks out of work. 

Restaurant Impossible Reopen

I’ve just reopened six restaurants in three weeks in four states following COVID-19 closures putting in new practices and protocols to make sure that consumers are safe. You will hear more from me regarding this on my TV show Restaurant Impossible Reopen which you’ll see very soon. It’s really important that we take these protocols seriously.