The food service industry has a challenging path ahead of it with many obstacles along the way. This is a sector that has had to reinvent itself and exploit all available resources to accommodate new requirements such as physical distancing. Jean-Georges Ploner, founder, managing director and visionary figurehead of F&B HEROES GmbH is convinced that it has a viable future because social contact is a basic human need that is impossible to suppress. In the future we’ll be seeing new or revived concepts for social venues offering dining experiences with emotional appeal. Convincing guests they are safe is obviously also important. This can be achieved by introducing protected areas, access controls, mandatory table reservations and hygiene concepts as routine aspects of everyday life in the future. It isn’t just about the food being served to guests, but the whole dining package – and that’s the challenge that the creative facilitators and visionaries have to address.