Illness in a cafe can quickly impact the amount of business that you see. Customers may start to think that your cafe doesn't follow basic sanitary codes and choose to take their business elsewhere. Luckily, there are a few permanent changes you can make to your cafe to ensure you don't spread illnesses.

Immediately Send Sick Employees Home

You should never encourage employees to work if they're feeling ill. Because they're handling food and dealing with customers, you can be sure that they're spreading their germs around. Most customers may not have an appetite if their food is being served by someone that looks sick, too. You should make it a policy that if someone is ill, then they stay at home. No questions asked. Using sneeze shields at work can also keep your employees from making anyone else sick before they know they're ill.

Implement Hand Washing Policies

Because your cafe handles foods and beverages, it's essential that everyone practices good hand-washing techniques. There should be policies put into place that indicate how to properly wash your hands, how long the hands need to be washed, and when hands need to be washed. By regularly washing their hands, employees can help stop the spread of various germs. These policies need to be enforced. Employees shouldn't be punished if they take a bit of extra time on their breaks to wash their hands.

Encourage Vaccine Shots

While you shouldn't force anyone to undergo an annual flu shot, you should encourage it. You can even offer to carpool everyone after work to a local pharmacist for flu shots. By taking care of the drive for them, as well as the cost, your employees will likely be more willing to receive a flu shot. With the vaccine, your employees stand a smaller chance of becoming ill and spreading it to others.

Encourage Outside Dining

During the warmer months, you should transition your cafe from an indoor cafe to an outdoor cafe. Germs have a harder time being passed around outside. Sunlight can kill germs. There's less trapped air, too, which can also circulate germs around. You may need to build an outdoor eating area, but doing so can prevent the spread of illness.

Make Your Cafe Drive-Through Only

You may have been a traditional cafe that allowed customers to dine inside, but if you want to stop the spread of an illness, then you should consider changing to a drive-through-only cafe. Offering plenty of spaces for diners to sit in their cars and enjoy their orders can make customers happy, too.

These tips can help your cafe prevent the spread of illness. By preventing illness, your cafe can stay active and continue to bring in revenue. You may also make your customers feel safer.