PUTTING ON THE BRAKES
Employers resigned to shutting down again as COVID-19 infections increase
Wheelhouse Cycle co-owner Nadine Hogan is one of the many Ontario business operators expressing their frustration after the province reintroduced Stage 2 restrictions because of rising case numbers of COVID-19.
Ottawa's restaurateurs are resigned to shutting their dining rooms for the next 28 days beginning Saturday, hoping that public health benefits from their sacrifices and that the four-week ban won't be extended.
“As much as it hurts, it might not be a bad idea. If that's what it takes to flatten the curve, so be it,” Devinder Chaudhary, the owner of Aiana, said Friday.
“The only question now is how long does this last? I only hope we don't remain closed all the way past Christmas,” continued Chaudhary, whose sleek fine-dining restaurant in the Sun Life Financial Centre opened in August.
While the ban on indoor dining affects restaurants in Toronto, Peel and Ottawa — Ontario's three novel coronavirus hot zones — it's understood that community transmission of COVID-19 is worst above all in Toronto restaurants, and health officials said Friday the decision to shut dining rooms in Peel and Ottawa was driven by a desire to be both preventive and consistent.
“The province is applying a precautionary approach,” said Brent Moloughney, associate medical officer of health at Ottawa Public Health.
OPH said while people working in the local hospitality industry are testing positive, it is aware of just one outbreak in a restaurant setting.
About 10 restaurants in Ottawa, most of which are downtown, have shut down temporarily this fall due to associated positive cases.
Marc Lepine, chef-owner at the Rochester Street fine-dining restaurant Atelier, said his summer was fortunately as busy as pandemic restrictions had allowed.
But he and other restaurateurs said business was dropping in recent days, as the fears of customers grew due to increasing COVID-19 infection numbers in Ottawa.
Lepine welcomed government assistance for shutdown businesses, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford did announce $300 million would be available to help businesses such as Lepine's cover fixed costs including property taxes and energy bills.
Some restaurateurs stressed they often exceeded protocols and recommendations in their efforts to make indoor dining safe.
The Pelican Seafood Market and Grill on Bank Street modified its dining room with physical barriers and changed its heating and ventilation system, said owner Jim Foster.
“It is frustrating to hear of other restaurants that made little or no effort to keep their clients safe,” Foster said. “I was surprised by the lack of enforcement of the dining rules. When rules appear to be optional, it takes very little for them to be disregarded altogether.”
Richard Valente, owner of the Fratelli restaurants and Roberto Pizza, complained that restaurants are being punished for the lax behaviours at bars.
“They keep putting bars and restaurants in the same sentence. That's so wrong. The bars, as everyone knows, are out of control. Restaurants are going out of their way to stay on protocol,” he said.
The Ontario government also banned indoor gyms, fitness centres, cinemas, performing arts centres, bingo halls and casinos from opening for the next 28 days.
Wheelhouse Cycle's co-owner, Heather Andrews, said that even while her spin studio closes, it will protest restrictions the province most recently placed on it.
Wheelhouse's studio in City Centre is a roomy 5,000 square feet. But under regulations put in place last Friday but have now been superseded, Wheelhouse, like fitness centres of all sizes, was limited to having 10 customers at one time.
“At that point, we're not making money,” said Andrews.
“We'll still argue … that if and when we are allowed to open, we can open with however many people we can, as long as they're socially distanced,” she said.
Andrews said Wheelhouse's instructors will cease being paid, and its staff employees will no long receive shifts and could choose to be laid off.
“I and my business partner have not been paid since March and that will continue,” she said.
Wheelhouse took mask-wearing and cleaning protocols very seriously and had no positive cases of COVID-19, Andrews said.
Since the pandemic hit Ottawa in mid-March, restaurants have continually changed how they did business, with many opening patios and developing takeout menus.
Antonella Ceglia, general manager at La Roma on Preston Street, said her 30-year-old restaurant will pivot once again during the pandemic to focus on takeout, including fresh and frozen foods and pantry items. Similarly, Chaudhary said his restaurant, which offers such splurges as a $42 Wagyu burger and a $185 tasting menu, will maintain its 20-person patio as long as possible and will develop a takeout menu.
Restaurateur Stephen Beckta said he will launch Web-based takeout food programs next Tuesday at his three restaurants, Beckta Dining and Wine, Play Food and Wine and Gezellig.
“By Thursday, our hope is to use our own staff to be able to deliver this hot food for dinner seven nights per week to people's homes,” he said.
“Our hope is to employ as many of our staff as possible while we ride out the 28-day lockdown in our dining rooms.”
The bars, as everyone knows, are out of control. Restaurants are going out of their way to stay on protocol.