An investigation by TV’s top-rated "Inside Edition" revealed many restaurants are putting their patrons at risk in newly created outdoor dining areas.
MERIDIAN Rapid Defense Group is advising restaurant owners across the U.S. on how to make a "secure place" for diners. "Inside Edition" featured MERIDIAN’s mobile Archer 1200 Barrier and described how it has helped restaurants "make safety a priority."
In their effort to survive new restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants are moving tables and chairs onto the streets. But in many cases, they are only surrounded by wooden barriers or planters, and already, as Inside Edition showed in a dramatic video, there have been several serious accidents where cars plowed into diners.
Peter Whitford, CEO of MERIDIAN said: "We were happy to work with "Inside Edition" and explain how our mobile Archer barriers are the perfect solution to secure on-street dining areas. I understand that restaurateurs are desperate to get back to business but having diners sitting so close to passing traffic is only inviting trouble unless they are properly protected. We’ve already seen evidence of that."
The Archer barrier’s 700 lbs. of American made steel can stop an out-of-control car or truck and provide the ideal solution for city’s wanting to help restaurants get back to business while at the same time providing a cocoon of safety.
"Having those (barriers) there is a big plus," Kris Jardino told "Inside Edition." Ms. Jardino and two friends were eating at Pasadena’s popular Mi Piace, one of the many restaurants in the California city secured by Archer barriers.
"Up until now, I didn’t think about the safety aspect, but seeing them there makes us feel a whole lot better," she said.
Archer barriers are also protecting diners in Ventura, CA where the city closed off ten city blocks to create an outdoor mall and in Miami Beach, FL where many restaurants have also expanded out onto the street.
