Brewery launches virus prevention initiative at bars

The management of Flash Zone Bar has reported a steady flow of business as one of its suppliers launched an initiative to ensure patrons and staff follow COVID-19 protocols.

The Safe Shop initiative sponsored by Banks Breweries was launched Friday at the Walmer Lodge, Black Rock bar in which Banks provides branded sanitizing stations, masks, gloves, floor decals and sneeze frames, to over 110 bars and restaurants across the island.

Trade Marketing Coordinator with Banks, Crystal Waithe,  said that it is in the brewery’s best interest to ensure that its customers follow the coronavirus prevention protocols to remain safe.

She said Banks is aware that recent months have been challenging for businesses and they are in need of support to ensure that their environments are COVID-19 free.

“We don’t exist without our customers and we can never forget that and we have to do whatever we need to do to support them,” Waithe said.

Flash Zone Bar’s marketing and entertainment consultant  Alvin Toppin said he noticed that initially, customers, fresh from being on lockdown for almost three months, were hesitant about returning to settings which would require them to interact with others.

Toppin said though COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on all industries, Flash Zone is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

He said: “Since we have reopened, it has not been a v-shape recovery because obviously we know the situation in the country with unemployment and layoffs and we know that there is not a lot of disposable income going around to spend.

“But, we have seen people actually coming to the bar because they just want that release, they want to get out, they want to have a good time. They may not necessarily have as much disposable income as they did pre-COVID, but they are actually coming to the bar and enjoying themselves.”