Here's What Dining At Chick-Fil-A Will Be Like Now

How much do you miss Chick-fil-A? Sure, they've remained open for business throughout the pandemic, supplying their delicious chicken sandwiches via drive-thru and delivery. Chick-fil-A even went that extra mile, installing outdoor handwashing stations so you could be sure that your order was delivered in as sanitary a fashion as possible (and that Chick-fil-A's own employees would stay safe and healthy, as well). Heck, they even added a make-at-home family meal kit to their takeout menu, and have been releasing recipe suggestions such as this awesome one for bang bang chicken made with their nuggets.

But still, enjoying Chick-fil-A at a distance is not quite the same as dining in. The good news is, dining rooms are once again reopening so you can enjoy the full Chick-fil-A experience up close and in person — well, sort of. As with so many other things in what we devoutly hope is our post-pandemic world, dining at Chick-fil-A is going to look a little different than it did in those dear departed days of 2019.

Chick-fil-A has adopted a new set of "Safe Service" standards for newly-reopened dining rooms. In addition to continuing to require team members to wash their hands every 30 minutes and after touching money and cleaning/sanitizing even more frequently than before, they've added hand sanitizer stations for customers and may have sanitizing wipes available for customers to clean their own tables in addition to the cleaning that the employees will also be doing.

Even bigger changes, however, will be in store with these new guidelines (via Fox News). The restaurants will be adopting signage promoting social distancing and may station an employee at the door to monitor traffic flow. There will also be plexiglass shields between customers and the now masked and gloved employees, and customers will be strongly urged to pay via the app or another contact-free (and cashless) method. 

What's more, there will be no more self-service anything at present — you'll be handed your utensils and condiments along with your order, and your drinks will be filled behind the counter — no more free refills. Oh, and the play areas will be closed down, too, which is sad, but, you know, a lot less sad than allowing kids to get sick. 

So it's not quite the same old Chick-fil-A as we once knew and loved, but it's the newer, safer, Chick-fil-A, and we're all glad to see them back no matter the circumstances.