NO RISK, NO RENT
For restaurant owners like Mustafa Omar, the risk that comes with working during a pandemic is outweighed by the need to pay the rent, Peter Hum writes.
At Pita Bell Kabab on Carling Avenue, owner Mustafa Omar worries about his daughter who works the restaurant’s cash register and interacts with takeout customers and delivery people.
“I’m always telling her to sanitize the doors, and also keep her distance,” Omar says. His daughter wears gloves, he adds, and Omar’s business even offers gloves to customers, who are only allowed into his business two at a time. Omar prefers that customers pay with debit or credit cards, but Pita Bell stills accepts cash.
For the Omars and many other Ottawa restaurateurs, the risk that necessarily comes with working during a pandemic is outweighed by the need to pay rent.
Since mid-March, Pita Bell Kabab, like every other restaurant in Ottawa, has followed a municipal mandate and closed its dining room to help limit the spread of COVID -19.
Most eateries have closed entirely. But as they’ve been designated essential businesses by the province, restaurants are permitted to prepare food for takeout and delivery, and some choose that option because the alternative might well be going out of business.
According to a national survey conducted last month by Restaurants Canada, nearly one in 10 of the non-profit association’s member restaurants had closed permanently because of the outbreak, while another 18 per cent would shut for good in April if current conditions continued.
It’s with good reason, then, that a national campaign involving famous Canadian chefs, musicians and athletes has been launched to urge Canadians to order takeout food every Wednesday. The campaign kicked off this week complete with a website, canadatakeout.com, and a hashtag, #TakeoutDay, made for social media.
On April 15, 22 and 29 at 8 p.m., artists such as Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo, Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies and Tom Cochrane will perform on the Facebook page of Canada’s Great Kitchen Party, the nationwide series of regional competitions associated with the Canadian Culinary Championships, to popularize the takeout food campaign.
The Restaurants Canada survey also suggested that 800,000 food-service industry jobs had been lost across the country due to COVID -19, including more than 300,000 in Ontario.
Omar says he regrets he has contributed to that tally. Earlier this year, when business was booming and customers lined up for as much as an hour for tables, Pita Bell Kabab employed 20 people, eight servers and 12 kitchen staff. COVID -19 has reduced the restaurant’s staff to three. Just Omar and two of his children work reduced hours to prepare and serve the restaurant’s charcoal-grilled Middle Eastern specialties.
Omar used to make $3,000 on a good day. Now, he might see $500 come in. Soon, he will try to do some of his own deliveries to avoid paying the commission that the SkipTheDishes service takes.
“If I cover my rent, I’m fine,” Omar says, before adding: “Now, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
About 200 metres west on Carling Avenue, Mark Fernandez, who owns and operates Markie’s Montreal Smoked Meat, is feeling similar anxieties. “So far, we still have customers. That’s why we’re not closing,” he says.
Fernandez, a 30-year-old who has worked in restaurants in Singapore, Malaysia, Edmonton and now Ottawa, guesses his business will be down as much as 50 per cent this month compared to his pre-virus business.
Fernandez let go all three of his staff to run his tiny eatery by himself, opening daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. to prepare food, almost all of which is sent out with delivery people.
“I have to,” says Fernandez. “We’re still paying rent and everything, hydro and whatever. Better to get $200 a day than zero to pay for things.” He adds that he is also sending money back to family in the Philippines.
Fernandez says he’s very worried about becoming infected with COVID-19, but hopes that eating healthy food, taking vitamins and getting good sleep will help him resist falling ill.
Adam Kam, the manager of Lobster Noodle House on Somerset Street West, says his business had to lay off two servers but is still trying to bring in money through takeout and delivery orders.
Kam says business is down 70 per cent. “Honestly, we’re just trying to stay afloat, cover our rent,” he says, adding that the restaurant is looking into applying for virus-related support from the federal government.
Kam says there is a bright side to consider. Two of his restaurant’s signature dishes, lobster pad Thai and lobster rolls, are top sellers. “People are bored at home, just eating burgers and stuff,” he suggests. “It’s nice to have a change.”