"'Normal' will never be a thing until we have a vaccine.” That comes from Ali Mokdad, chief strategy officer for population health at the University of Washington. It is imperative that we look beyond our immediate community and even beyond our leadership to ensure that we are all making practical decisions for a NEW future. We all need to shake the idea that this will be over, the lights will be turned on and life will go back to normal. In that light we’re looking to Hong Kong. With a population of 7.45 million people, roughly the size of NYC, it has reported just over 1000 cases of the virus and only 4 deaths. Unlike most parts of the world they have not undergone a lockdown, rather they’ve undergone strict policies of social distancing and contact tracing to much success. As it pertains to restaurants and the businesses we plan to start re-opening, they seem to be an example of successful and operational containment. Today we’re taking a look into the future at what we can do to reopen, while maintaining team safety, customer health and a sustainable business. Joining us from Hong Kong first is Matt Abergel, cofounder and chef of Yardbird and Ronin as well as Sunday’s Spirits. He is the author of Chicken and Charcoal from Phaidon and his neighborhood restaurant Yardbird is on San Pellegrino’s 50 best restaurants in Asia. In the second half we're joined by Syed Asim Hussain, who co-founded Black Sheep Restaurants in 2012, becoming one of the most prolific innovators at the forefront of Hong Kong’s ever-evolving culinary scene. They now operate 26 successful establishments, 2 of which hold Michelin stars. His team has also created a COVID-19 operational playbook, which they’ve generously shared with the world.

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