As I walked into the crowded supermarket, along with 20 other people, on New Year’s Eve, I thought about my restaurants, which are only allowed to cater to two people per table, at a distance of 1.5 metres (6 feet), at a maximum capacity of just 50 per cent up to 6pm, under government regulations . If it were not for the masked people, you would think that everything was normal because the supermarket was buzzing! There was no temperature-taking nor track-and-trace QR code at the door of this supermarket! I took a trolley: I saw no evidence that it had been cleaned or sanitised. I thought about my restaurants – the standards we upgraded last January 26, and the thousands of dollars we have spent providing sanitising gel for our customers ever since. I watched as people picked up produce, turned it over, examined it, and put it back before picking up the next available item to do the same. I thought about my operations team who must clean and sanitise their work areas, the management app that allows me to check on the eight checklists we use twice a day, and the walkaround our managers do every hour to ensure the checklists are completed and hygiene standards maintained. Eighty per cent of our customers are loyalty programme members, and most of the others can be contacted through our automated booking system. I wonder how effective the track-and-trace app recently implemented by the government is? Restaurants and bars in Hong Kong have invested thousands of dollars in equipment, materials and training – implementing stricter policies than in many other industries. I am grateful for the government’s support , but I am disappointed at the lack of common sense when it comes to measures to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 across other sectors. Some 70 per cent of Hong Kong restaurants face closure amid Covid-19 pandemic As people celebrated this New Year’s Eve at home, I hope that they thought about the double standards we have witnessed this year. The restaurants and bars that would typically be busy on New Year’s Eve were closed, and some will never reopen – that is sad! To a happier year, hold a glass up to 2021, the year that common sense – hopefully – returns to Hong Kong. Leslie D. Bailey, MD Ruby Tuesday, Hong Kong