Businesses ready for reopening
Excited, anxious to get going, but still cognizant of careful measures needed to keep safe
Hamilton businesses are limbering up this week, after what seemed like an eternity on the sidelines, preparing to reopen Friday, as the city enters Stage 2 of Ontario’s COVID-19 bounceback plan on that day.
It means different things for different kinds of businesses, but for virtually all of them the chance to ply their livelihoods again is being greeted with both excitement and anxiety.
Yes, business, but hardly as usual.
“We are planning on a safe, soft opening Friday, with a lot of signage prepared, and tables separated for distance and an empty seat at every table so that the server doesn’t have to lean in,” says Alisia Morrow, general manager of Barangas on the Beach on Van Wagners Beach Road.
The popular restaurant, a fixture on Hamilton/Stoney Creek’s Lake Ontario shoreline for 29 years, will be open from noon to 9 p.m. on Friday, with a reduced staff, a condensed menu and some new protocols in place — but a redoubled commitment to excel, says Morrow. But to excel safely and with everyone’s health as the paramount concern.
“Typically we hire 98 staff every summer, but this year it will be a little more than 25, and we’re using less than 50 per cent of our capacity,” at least for the time being, she adds.
Kitchen staff will be required to wear masks and gloves; they will be optional for patrons and servers but everyone will have to sanitize their hands before they enter. If they’ve been sick they will be asked to visit another time.
“We’re fortunate that we have such a big patio and we’re able to separate without losing or limiting too much.”
More than 70 restaurants have reach out to the city to inquire about the potential to temporarily expand patios into parking lots, onto sidewalks or side streets in the hopes of creating more physically distant table space.
The city is reviewing applications and hopes to start signing off on successful patio encroachments as early as Tuesday.
Ample space is also a plus for Rowaid Hanna, owner for the last seven years of King Kutz barber shop/styling, at 216 King St. E. He has more than 1,000 square feet.
He has six chairs, spaced far apart (only five chairs will be used at a time, at least at the beginning of the reopening on Friday), and he and his staff were in the space on Monday, setting up and making adjustments so that they can safely abide by all the rules.
“We have to make sure that everything is just right,” says Hanna. “This week I will be meeting with all our barbers to talk about the rules and how we will start.” All the new barbers and stylists, he says, have been trained and are being brought up to compliance with all the new rules and restrictions.
Staff will wear masks and gloves, and services will be by appointment only; walk-in traffic will be asked to book a time to come back.
“There will be sanitizers at each station and each chair will be cleaned after each customer with a 70 per cent alcohol solution.” All hair will be washed in hot water before cut, and there are sanitizing hot towels and heat for whiskers in the case of shaves.
“We’re safe, 100 per cent, and clean,” says Hanna. “We are recognized for that. Our customers know.”
Morrow, at Barangas, says they have endured summers of bad weather and the recession of 2008 but nothing has been quite like this pandemic in terms of the bite it has taken out of “normal.” On top of everything, the prices of food, especially meat, is going up.
“It has been a huge hit,” she explains. “We are three generations of family working at the restaurant,” and many of their incomes depend on it.
But the curbside takeout and pop-up pita service has been popular, she adds. “Hamilton is amazing,” when it comes to the support they give. “One step at a time.” Sanitization and health are always so important in the restaurant business, she says. “So it’s even more so a priority now. We want to make sure everyone is safe and healthy.”
Says Hanna, “We lost so much (in their months off at King Kutz). I hope it will get back to normal now. To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like this, this kind of experience. Some of our barbers were working driving deliveries.”
King Kutz will be open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday. And, after that, Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.