Bars, restaurants set to reopen in Nova Scotia
Businesses welcome news as they try to manoeuvre new normal
HALIFAX—Businesses such as bars, restaurants and barber shops are poised to reopen Friday across Nova Scotia, after being closed for nearly three months because of COVID-19 restrictions.
It’s a welcome development for many including Brendan Doherty, co-owner of the Old Triangle Irish Alehouse in Halifax.
“We’re still here,” Doherty said, chuckling, during an interview this week. “But it’s been mentally trying if I’m being honest.”
Doherty said his popular pub, which hopes to celebrate its 20th anniversary in November, is excited to get back in business after being closed since St. Patrick’s Day.
However, he said that excitement is tempered by the realization that it won’t be business as usual.
“We really want to try to figure out what the new normal looks like and get to it,” Doherty said. “It’s going to be a different experience eating out.”
Under plans restaurants and bars must adhere to, Doherty said customers will notice right away that there isn’t as much space to socialize as there used to be. The Old Triangle and most other bars and restaurants will be required to operate at 50 per cent of capacity.
Doherty said his pub won’t have seating at the bar, and tables will be spaced two metres apart in keeping with distancing requirements.
Staff will wear masks and servers will wear a mask and gloves he said, while customers will be taken to their tables by a host stationed near the pub’s only entrance.
Markings will also dictate physical distancing between tables and customers will be asked to use sanitizer or to wash their hands before eating.
Changes or not, Doherty expects there will be people to serve, although operating margins will be even tighter than they usually are. He said the Triangle is projecting business will be cut to about 30 per cent of previous revenue if all goes well.
Luc Erjavec, vice-president Atlantic for the industry group Restaurants Canada, said there is a “big sense of trepidation” mixed with the excitement of welcoming back customers.
Many restaurants aren’t quite sure how customers will react to the changes or even if they’ll come back in the numbers required to keep many places afloat, Erjavec said.
He said estimates show about 10 per cent of Canadian restaurants have already gone out of business due to COVID-19, and reopening will be a “work in progress.”
“It will be different, but I just think it is so important to get this industry up and operating because it’s an industry that employs someone in every single community,” Erjavec said, noting
He said about 40,000 Nova Scotians are employed by the restaurant business.
Under the province’s plan to gradually reopen sectors of the economy, hair salons and barber shops will also offer a different experience for customers.
Some health providers will also reopen Friday, including dentistry, optometry, chiropractic and physiotherapy services.