With outdoor restaurants mushrooming in public places all over the island, the need for a more comprehensive set of guidelines and for greater regulation is long overdue.
The general impression at present is that the situation is practically out of control, with many restaurateurs doing whatever they like. Abuses are rarely checked and standards have dropped markedly.
With its long summers and mild winters, Malta is an ideal place for outdoor dining but the time has come for the sector to be firmly controlled – not in the sense of suppressing it but, rather, to make it adhere to rules and regulations that would ultimately be of benefit to the operators, to the economy and, most of all, to the people they want to serve.
As in practically all sectors, there are good and bad operators and it is up to the authorities regulating the sector that ought to check the errant ones. A consultation document setting out guidelines for outdoor catering areas is well crafted and covers just about every aspect of the sector.
It also proposes a one-stop shop for the issue of permits, saving applicants much time and hassle going from one authority to another to gain approval. This will be a great improvement on the current system but what will bring about the much-needed change are the guidelines being proposed in the document if they are well followed.
The recommendations indeed look very good on paper, however, the big question, of course, is: how are they going to be enforced?
Right now, the number of outdoor restaurants seems to be increasing every summer. Take Marsaxlokk, for example, the area taken up by tables has grown so much that the free space available for pedestrians to stroll freely by the sea has been greatly restricted. While seaside outdoor restaurants are attractive and serve a purpose they should not be allowed to take up so much space.
Since outdoor catering places are served by the kitchens of indoor restaurants, it is intriguing how such kitchens can cater for the sharp rise in the number of covers in summer. Are the kitchens of these restaurants being regularly inspected to ensure that they are following all the hygienic rules and regulations of the trade?
This will be one aspect of the new arrangements that will have to be rigorously controlled. Waiting standards have dropped markedly as well, with many of the foreign staff members being employed barely able to communicate with their clients.
One aspect well dealt with in the consultation document is cleanliness. This is an area where most operators fail. Excluding fine dining places, many, if not most, of the other outdoor – and even indoor – restaurants generally disregard the state of the ground. Amazingly, waiters often wipe off leftovers straight onto the floor.
The serving stations are often very badly maintained.
And what about the toilets? This is the place where a customer can immediately tell if a restaurant is clean and up to the required standard or not. Many restaurants do not have decent bathrooms – almost a trademark of the trade in Malta.
Now is the right time to ensure that restaurants have a decent bathroom to cope with the number of clients they can take at any time. It is not only the kitchen that would need to be regularly inspected but bathrooms too.
Most of the proposals in the consultation document are fine but enforcement needs greater consideration.