EATING IN

800,000 WORKERS HAVE BEEN LAID OFF IN THE RESTAURANT SECTOR — SO FAR: SURVEY.

The Canadian food service sector laid off 800,000 people in March as the coronavirus crisis forced shutdowns across the country, according to a survey released on Thursday. Restaurants Canada, the industry association behind the survey, is now warning that nearly 30 per cent of restaurants will never reopen if the situation continues to be unchanged for another month.

“There’s a lot of people who just won’t make it through May 1, or June 1,” said David Lefebvre, the association’s vice-president for federal affairs. The 800,000 out-of-work employees are about two-thirds of the country’s entire food service labour force, which totals some 1.2 million people. Many more workers have likely been let go since the survey was conducted last week: 70 per cent of respondents said they were planning more layoffs in the near future.

A growing chorus of concerned restaurateurs have formed a coalition to pressure the federal government to do more, arguing that the 75-per-cent wage subsidy and $40,000 loans for small businesses won’t be enough.

Save Hospitality, a group of more than 1,000 restaurant owners, said it is meeting with political officials to develop a restaurant-specific stimulus plan. The $40,000 no-interest government loans will barely cover one or two months’ rent, the group said.

“Some of our rents are over $100,000 a month,” said Andrew Oliver, one of the Save Hospitality leaders and chief executive of Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality Inc., which has 26 locations in Canada.

“This has been one of the most devastating times of my life. I had to lay off thousands of people, ruined thousands of dreams,” Oliver said.

The Restaurants Canada survey was conducted between March 25 and 29 with 655 restaurateurs who operate 13,300 locations in total.

It found that 10 per cent of the country’s 97,500 restaurants, bars and cafes have already permanently closed.

Another 18 per cent said they will be forced to close for good within a month if current conditions continue.

Save Hospitality wants forgivable government loans to keep businesses alive through the coronavirus crisis and incent them to reopen and hire back employees as soon as it’s safe to do so.

“Make that investment for us so that we can continue to pay you guys the tens of billions of dollars in taxes that we contribute to our communities,” Oliver said.