Restaurants near virus hot spots mull over safety versus profit
Establishments look at locals-only dining policy amid second wave
Some southern Ontario restaurants are making the tough financial choice to bar out-oftown customers from indoor dining as COVID-19 cases surge in nearby hot spots.
Ramshackle Industries, which owns four restaurants and bars in Stratford, Ont., first introduced the policy when restaurants reopened in June, slowly dialing it back as the pandemic waned this summer.
Now that the province has reintroduced tighter restrictions amid the second wave of COVID-19, Ramshackle owner Jessie Votary said the rule is being enforced again.
Tourists are a “huge part” of the customer base in Stratford, especially in the summer months, but Votary said the
safety of employees at the worker-owned businesses had to come first. “We want the people to come, we just are also wary and sensible about what potential infection of our team could mean, and what potential infection of our community
could mean,” Votary said.
Restaurants have been explaining the rules before seating customers, with staff checking IDs in some cases, and some non-locals have been turned away from indoor dining.
Votary said reactions have ranged from understanding to upset. “We have people who throw up their hands and storm out, we have people who swear at the staff, but those people are merely showing we made the right decision to ask those questions,” she said.
While Ramshackle Industries was an early adopter of localonly dining rooms, other establishments are taking a similar approach. The Ale House in Cobourg, Ont., said it was limiting indoor service to locals in response to restrictions on Toronto, which is an hour’s drive away. “It’s very difficult for me,” Owner Todd Oberholtzer said. “I was just hoping to do something for my community.”
Romby’s Tavern and Smokehouse in St. Catharines, Ont., announced a similar policy in an Oct. 9 Facebook post, saying proof of Niagara residency would be required to dine in “as an extra safety precaution for our staff, our customers and their loved ones.”