Food Samples, Office Coffee And Other Parts Of Everyday Life That Will Not Return With Reopening

Handshakes, hugs and cheek-kiss greetings: Physical contact is the first thing to go with social distance, so long are the days of double-cheek kiss greetings and nice-to-meet-you handshakes, per the CDC.

Office snacks, coffee machines and corporate pantries: Yes, your floor Nespresso machine is now a health hazard with coworkers pressing the same buttons and loitering by the machine breathing potentially deadly germs onto the surface;lunch meetings, shared pantries and breakrooms fall into the same bucket. 

“That big deli platter is a thing of the past,” Marc Margulies, principal of architecture firm Margulies Perruzzi, which has been hired to re-outfit clients’ offices for social distance told the Boston Globe. “As much as we might love it, that’s not going to happen again for a long time.”

Buffets, cafeterias, DIY soft serve machines and other self-serve style dining options—like coworking staple beer taps—may go extinct (for now), as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that restaurants reopening avoid all self-serve stations. 

Food samples: Unfortunately the highlight of any kid’s Costco trip or Aunty Anne’s experience will become but a memory as food sampling invites a germ passage from shared platters.

Reusable cups and bags may also be a thing of the past, an unfortunate turn for climate change activists, as coffee chains like Starbucks and Dunkin will no longer fill reusable mugs and local governments in cities like San Francisco, San Mateo and more along with grocer giants Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, etc. have banned reusable bags.

People will need to look for places other than the grocery store hot bars and soup, salad and pizza stations for easy dinners as national retailers like Whole Foods and local markets discontinue these self-serve stations, following CDC guidance.