Restaurants and coronavirus
Regional State Administrative Agencies' guidelines support restaurants in the implementation of the current restrictions.
5. Number of customers and location of customer seats
Restrictions from 12 January 2022
- In the regions of Uusimaa, Southwest Finland, Satakunta, Kanta-Häme, Pirkanmaa, Päijät-Häme, Kymenlaakso, South Karelia, North Karelia, Central Finland, Ostrobothnia, South Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, Lapland, South Savo and North Savo
- Food and beverage service businesses that primarily serve alcoholic beverages may have only half the normal number of customer seats in use in their indoor and outdoor premises. Other food and beverage service businesses are restricted to 75 per cent of their normal number of customer seats indoors.
- Other regions
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No separate restrictions on the number of customers. The obligation to observe the general hygiene guidelines and to keep a safe distance applies in all regions.
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Seating and moving inside the restaurant from 12 January 2022
- In the regions of Uusimaa, Southwest Finland, Satakunta, Kanta-Häme, Pirkanmaa, Päijät-Häme, Kymenlaakso, South Karelia, North Karelia, Central Finland, Ostrobothnia, South Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, Lapland, South Savo, North Savo and Åland
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All customers must have their own seats at a table or similar in indoor premises.
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- Other regions
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No separate restrictions. The obligation to observe the general hygiene guidelines and to keep a safe distance applies in all regions.
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If the restaurant has an alcohol serving licence, the number of customer seats is specified by section in the permit. The sections of licensed premises and the number of customer seats have been published in open data.
If a restaurant does not have a licence to serve alcohol, the number of customers is determined in the building plan. If necessary, you can request the building plan from municipal building supervision.
Indoor spaces are spaces with a floor, roof and walls, or where a single level surface can be added to create a closed space. A restaurant terrace may not have more than two walls in addition to the roof. If a terrace has three walls and a roof, it is considered an indoor space and subject to indoor restrictions of the number of customers and persons. The material of the walls or roof is irrelevant in this respect. Surfaces that can be opened, such as glass panes and marquees, also constitute a wall or level surface. The definition is in line with the definition of interior spaces in the Tobacco Act. As a rule of thumb, if smoking is allowed somewhere, it is considered an outdoor space.
The limitation on the number of customers does not apply to staying in a space short-term, for example when leaving a terrace to go indoors to get food or drinks, going to the washroom, or another similar reason.
Location of customer seats in a restaurant and avoiding crowding
There must be sufficient room for customers, and the customer seats must be placed at a sufficient distance from each other. As a starting point, a sufficient distance should be at least 1 to 2 metres, which is the recommended distance between persons at public events according to the guidelines of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
Restaurants must take into account that they are obliged to maintain a sufficient distance between customers as well as between customers and staff at all times while the restaurant is open.
Restaurants must organise the structures and furniture of their indoor and outdoor facilities and determine customer service practices to ensure that customers are not exposed to the infectious disease. For example, regarding structures and furniture, one option is placing screens or plexiglass between tables and, regarding service practices, restaurants can avoid crowding with measures such as table service or assigning queue numbers for picking up food and beverages at a service counter.
Restaurants must ensure in particular that there is no unnecessary crowding in its premises and that the arrival of customers in the restaurant is carried out so that a sufficient distance between customers and groups is maintained. For example, for a terrace, it is a good idea to consider in advance how to prevent a crowd if it starts to rain heavily and there is already the maximum number of customers indoors.
On defining types of restaurants
Restrictions applying to restaurants depend on the kind of activity that they have. A determination of what group the restaurant belongs to is made by the restaurant business itself.
A restaurant primarily serving alcoholic beverages
This group includes, for example, night clubs, licensed bars, and pubs.
The main operations of a restaurant are evaluated primarily based on its character. A decisive factor is if the customers gather in the restaurant primarily to eat meals at a table in their own groups or if the main activity of the restaurant involves the sale of alcoholic beverages. Simply keeping a small amount of food on sale does not turn the restaurant's activity into that of a food restaurant. The designation of the restaurant is not significant in itself with respect to the definition of the activity.
The activity of some restaurants might be that of a food restaurant during the day and primarily involve serving alcoholic beverages in the evening. The activity of a restaurant may also vary according to the day of the week or the season. In such cases, the restaurants are subject, at each specific time, to the restrictions that apply to their activity at the time in question.
Restaurants other than those that primarily serve alcoholic beverages
Restaurants in this group can be, for example, food restaurants, pizzerias or hamburger restaurants, cafes, or lunch restaurants.
Also included in the group are locations whose main business activity is something other than catering. Such locations may be, for example, pool halls and bowling alleys that are licensed to serve alcoholic beverages.
Plan to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease among customers
The guidelines are valid until 30 June 2022.
These instructions have been drawn up in accordance with the Government Decree on temporarily restricting the operations of restaurants to prevent the spread of an infectious disease, issued under section 58 (a) of the Communicable Diseases Act.
These instructions do not replace a restaurant's other self-supervision plans. These premises will be subsequently referred to as restaurants.
The business owner of a restaurant is obligated to draw up a plan to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease among customers.
Restaurants must clearly inform their customers that no-one may enter the premises with symptoms matching coronavirus infection, such as coughing, throat pain, fever or shortness of breath.
The restaurant must ensure that:
- the customers have a clearly visible possibility to wash or disinfect their hands when arriving at the restaurant;
- any furniture, dishes, cutlery and other customer contact surfaces and objects are kept clean so that they do not create a risk of spreading the infectious disease;
- the customers have clearly visible instructions for cleaning their hands, for maintaining a safe distance to others, and other instructions for preventing the spreading of the infectious disease within the premises.
Restaurants must organise the structures and furniture of their indoor and outdoor facilities and determine customer service practices to ensure that customers are not exposed to the infectious disease.
Restaurants must ensure in particular that there is no unnecessary crowding in its premises and that the arrival of customers in the restaurant is carried out so that a sufficient distance between customers and groups is maintained.
Customers are taken in at any one time so that there is enough room in the customer premises (both indoors and outdoors).
The prevention of crowding must be taken into account (e.g. bar counters and washroom queues).
Plan content requirements:
- A description of the policies adopted by the restaurant in order to comply with the general obligations.
- A description of the indoors and outdoors premises of the restaurant and a description of the measures and instructions given to staff for implementing the other obligations laid down in section 58 (a) of the Communicable Diseases Act and supervising their implementation indoors and outdoors at the restaurant.
- Information on the person responsible for the implementation of the plan in the restaurant.
Information on the person responsible for the plan must be provided to customers on request.
NOTE: The person's name is not added to the plan visible to customers; the name is provided to customers only upon request.
The plan is considered to be visible to customers if its summary is visible to customers when they enter the restaurant and it states that customers have the right to see the plan upon request. The plan may be combined with self-supervision plans referred to in the Alcohol Act, the Food Act (23/2006) and the Tobacco Act (549/2016).
Customers must follow restaurant policies and instructions given by staff. If a customer does not comply, the restaurant staff have the right to remove the customer from the premises under the Act on accommodation and restaurant operations (308/2006, section 5).
The Regional State Administrative Agency supervises the compliance with requirements and restrictions. If shortcomings or flaws are found in the compliance with obligations or restrictions, the Regional State Administrative Agency may issue the restaurant with an order to correct them. The order must include a time limit for taking the necessary measures. If the shortcomings have not been rectified within the given time or if obligations have been substantially violated, the Regional State Administrative Agency may order the restaurant to cease any service operations immediately and to be closed to customers for a maximum of one month.