Restaurants facing varied challenges
Local restaurateurs ask guests for patience as they slowly reopen
When businesses started to close in March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Calgarians were wringing their hands about the future of restaurants. We knew that other businesses like clothing stores, hair salons, and flower shops were bound to suffer, too, but even people with no experience in the industry understood that months of closures would hit restaurants hard.
Restaurants are, after all, a business category in which managing to be open for a mere five years is considered beating the odds even in a healthy economy. We’ve all heard complaints about the “razor-thin” margins that keep restaurants forever on the verge of failure, but restaurateurs have traditionally held back on the specific realities of what is becoming an increasingly unsustainable business model. Part of what draws customers into restaurants is the fantasy of being pampered, and no one wants to think about the owner sitting in a back office pouring over spreadsheets and fretting about the fluctuating costs of food.
But it may be time to draw back that curtain to gain a better understanding of how restaurants work. At least that was what Prairie
Dog Brewing’s Gerad Coles was betting on when he wrote a post for his restaurant’s website (prairiedogbrewing.ca) earlier this month, titled Six Frustrating Challenges To Reopening a Restaurant in the COVID-19 Era.
Epic enough to require a table of contents, the 6,500-word bombshell started as a detailed reasoning for why Coles didn’t feel comfortable opening his restaurant until proper safety protocols are in place, especially with often-overlooked factors such as the spray coming out of the dish pit and staff having to police customers who don’t comply with social-distancing measures. Coles also broke down the precarious cost of doing business during “normal” times and how the break-even point will be impossible to reach when restaurants are unable to operate at more than 50 per cent capacity.
“If we want to live in a world that has restaurants POSTCOVID-19, we need to have a more realistic view of what food costs,” Coles says. “I raised a lot of challenges in that post, but I don’t have all the answers. We have to work together as a society to figure out what it’s worth to have restaurants as part of our lives.”
As restaurants continue to gradually reopen, prices are likely to go up because of the cost of masks and other personal protective equipment, rising food costs related to the pandemic, decreased alcohol sales with the continuing reliance on takeout, and also because of something that Coles and other industry insiders call “the magic nickel.”
The term refers to the five cents on the dollar that restaurants typically make as profit after paying for food, staffing, building costs, and other incidentals — and that’s only if business is booming. The added pandemic-related costs are going to further reduce those margins, which is why a lot of restaurants will find themselves in trouble over the coming months.
Duncan Ly, the chef-owner behind Foreign Concept, Takori, Melo, and Greenfish restaurants, says restaurateurs typically don’t talk about the financial hardships of running a restaurant because it can come off as whining, particularly when many customers find it difficult to justify shelling out $100 or more for a dinner for two. Ly says many customers think that restaurants buy food discounted or are making huge profits when, for the vast majority, that simply isn’t the case.
“One of the best things we can do right now is to create an awareness of what it’s really like to run a restaurant,” Ly says. “We aren’t lining our pockets. For most of us, it’s a real labour of love.”
Since COVID-19 has made this unstable industry even less stable, both Ly and Coles plan to open their dining rooms slowly and carefully — a relaunch followed by a second closure because of a spike in cases could spell the end for many restaurants. As they and other restaurants do reopen, they ask guests to go easy on the restaurants they love and to remember that as magical as restaurants may feel, real people are working hard behind the scenes to get those gorgeous meals to the table. Restaurants have been there for so many of our celebrations, milestones, and indulgent splurges — it’s time for us to be there in return, and to exercise a little patience as they get back on their feet.
“We’ve all grown accustomed to not having a personal relationship between the customer and the owner of the establishment,” Coles says. “But there are a lot of independent restaurants here where the owners are there every single day. I hope people get to know the owners and understand who the people are that you’re helping, because every dollar you spend is a vote.”
If we want to live in a world that has restaurants POST-COVID-19, we need to have a more realistic view of what food costs . ... We have to work together as a society to figure out what it’s worth to have restaurants as part of our lives.
Gerad Coles, Prairie Dog Brewing