How’s this for social distancing?
A couple in Sweden is opening up a unique restaurant with seating for only one person and without servers or a building.
The open-air “restaurant,” which is actually just a table and single chair set up in a meadow, is reportedly scheduled to open on May 10 in Varmland and will accommodate one customer per day.
There are no servers to take your order or deliver the food. Instead, Linda Karlsson and former chef Rasmus Persson, the minds behind the Bord för En, literally “Table for One,” concept, will send the food to the patron via a pulley system with a basket attached. According to the website for the restaurant, the couple will load the food into the basket from the building’s kitchen window and then send it toward the guest.
Though Sweden has not forced bars and restaurants to shut down dine-in service completely, Karlsson and Persson still wanted to be “the only COVID-19-safe restaurant in the world,” the pair told Insider in an interview, noting the idea came to them while visiting Karlsson’s parents and having to share food through a kitchen window to maintain proper social distancing.
The restaurant will serve a fixed three-course menu, which will change based on what is locally available and feature a cocktail pairing.
More than just offering a COVID-19-safe – the dishes and table will be sanitized twice for the guest – dining experience, the couple is also offering a pay-what-you-want model.
“We are all are facing difficult times and there are people that have lost their jobs, loved ones, or even their mind. We welcome all, no matter what financial situation you are in,” Karlsson told Insider.
“We want to encourage people to sit down and spend quality time with themselves,” Karlsson added.
The one-of-a-kind restaurant will be open through August 1.