With bars and restaurants opening up worldwide in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, some establishments are striving to adhere to safety regulations creatively. One bar in London is taking a humorous approach by dressing its staff as beekeepers.
Mr Fogg’s House of Botanicals is part of the Inception Group’s heritage brand based around the Victorian traveler, Phileas Fogg, star of Jules Verne’s 1872 novel, ‘Around the World in Eighty Days.’ The venue is home to Fogg’s vast collection of exotic flora and fauna from his travels.
In addition to creating safe socializing environments, which involve temperature checks for staff and hand sanitation dispensers throughout the venues, the group aims to embrace post-pandemic protection measures with humor and fun. Consequently, staff at the House of Botanicals will don beekeeping suits and veils while serving botanical-inspired cocktails to guests.
“Now, more than ever before, people will need spaces that spark a sense of escapism and imagination,” states co-founder Charlie Gilkes. “We do not want to welcome visitors back into sterile spaces that feel like airport security, and we are acutely aware that people won’t leave their homes to sit in a perspex prison. Therefore, we’ve devised a series of playful solutions to new measures that will be woven into our customer experience, hopefully enhancing it.”
The venue hopes that the unconventional protective suits will become an eccentric part of the immersive experience that guests have come to enjoy at this unique Victorian-styled botanical oasis. “I love this idea that Mr Fogg had a collection of beekeeping suits stored away that we could finally put to good use as a form of PPE,” comments Gilkes. Further information on Mr Fogg’s House of Botanicals can be found here.
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