ABSTRACT
The restaurant industry has been hit hard by the ongoing pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. Given new surges in COVID-19 cases across multiple regions, the restaurant environment remains largely unpredictable, and consumers continue to be anxious of dining out. Based on a qualitative study, the wellbeing perceptions of restaurant diners in Germany after the initial lockdown in mid-March are explored. The study revealed that wellbeing of restaurant diners is a collective concept comprised of multiple domains of a service system. More specifically, it is found that public health measures of social distancing have led to an increased concern about space and perceived territoriality, influencing how diners feel at full-service dining establishments. A model of spatial wellbeing of guests in dine-in restaurants is developed. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed in detail. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022. All rights reserved.