Some restaurants and pubs wary of reopening too soon
Owners cite concerns over distancing requirements and availability of PPE
Although Calgary restaurants and pubs won’t be permitted to reopen for dine-in service as soon as those in other cities, owners of local establishments say they remain wary about safety levels once they get the go-ahead.
Premier Jason Kenney announced Wednesday that Stage 1 of the province’s relaunch plan would move at a more gradual pace in Calgary and Brooks than most regions.
Retail businesses, hairstylists and barbershops, museums and art galleries, along with restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs could begin to reopen Thursday throughout most of the province, as COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed. But restaurants, bars, hairstylists and barbershops in Calgary will have to wait until May 25.
Some business owners, including Jennifer Duffin, say they may even sit it out longer.
“It’s all or nothing,” said Duffin, co-owner of Lighthouse Pub in Deer Run.
She said physical distancing measures that must be in place when restaurants reopen — they’re limited to operating at 50 per cent capacity and tables must be two metres apart — are incompatible with the very nature of a pub.
“People come in to sit together and socialize and have a drink and have a meal and get together. That’s what a pub is designed for; to hug each other,” said Duffin.
“Until they say that it is safer for people to sit together, I don’t know how we can reopen.”
Duffin added it would be a challenge to keep staff safe under coronavirus-era conditions.
“How do you serve food? How do we collect dishes?” she said. “How do we serve drinks from one table to the next table and collect empties?”
Other Calgary bars, such as 17th Avenue’s Ship and Anchor Pub, have said they, too, could wait longer to reopen than what is required by the province’s guidelines.
“There is still a lot of work required to figure out how to set up for the pub to operate, including sourcing a supply of suitable PPE for our staff and figuring out how we can provide the distancing required to operate safely and within the guidelines,” the pub’s management stated on social media last week. “Often what is safe is not necessarily customer friendly, and what is customer friendly is not necessarily safe.”
According to a survey taken by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, around 38 per cent of the organization’s Alberta members are worried about their ability to access personal protective equipment, such as masks, gloves and hand sanitizer.
“We see access to PPE as a possible limiting factor to whether or not a business will reopen,” said Annie Dormuth, the CFIB’S director of provincial affairs for Alberta.
With sky-high demand, the availability of PPE could determine whether an eatery is prepared to host customers, according to Esther Kelly, executive director of the 17th Avenue Retail & Entertainment District Business Improvement Area.
“It’s very hard to get your hands on — the amount that you would need to do it safely — so some are waiting to access those before they open and have a good stockpile,” she said.
Kelly said many businesses along 17th Avenue were “hopeful” to reopen to the public Thursday, but were “preparing” for a delay, before Kenney’s announcement.
Others, such as some smaller restaurants, indicated they didn’t feel it made sense to relaunch so soon.
“The added costs are things they have to consider and whether or not the profits or revenue that they would stand to gain is going to be offset by the PPE requirements or new POST-COVID requirements,” she said.
Andrew Brassard, co-owner of Broken City on 11th Avenue S.W., said “more than one day’s notice” from the government “would have been nice.”
The bar is still working out the logistics of what its new reality will look like when operating at half capacity, including the need for an employee to monitor the number of guests inside.
He said Broken City will also need an attendant to ensure each washroom remains clean.
“It’s so difficult. The washrooms really concern me,” said Brassard.
“People need to use the washroom and use it quite frequently when they’re drinking.”
He said the bar is taking a “cautious” approach.
“We want to do what’s safest for everybody,” he said.
“I think there’s a lot of people biting at the chomp to get back open, and there’s a lot of people who are not sure.”