Casino leaves restaurant’s future dicey
Business down at some restaurants since casino opened
A local restaurateur says his customers have largely disappeared in the last five weeks – they’ve all gone to the new Shorelines Casino Peterborough, he says, to eat at the buffet.
“My business is down more than 50 per cent since the casino opened,” says Warren Hennessey, the owner of Hendows Fine Food on Townsend St., across from Jeff Purvey’s.
“It’s impacted me – major.” Hendows is a small restaurant in the former location of Mama’s Restaurant. Hennessey opened it in January.
He says his restaurant once attracted seniors who like to go out for breakfast: he serves two eggs, bacon, toast and coffee for $4.99.
But Hennessy says those customers are gone to the casino now, where they can get a breakfast buffet for $7.99 – and then gamble.
“I can put on a $4.99 breakfast, but I don’t have slot machines,” Hennessy said.
“I don’t have the toys they have.”
He spoke to The Examiner on Friday at noon – formerly a busy time. The restaurant was empty.
“I’ve had two customers today so far,” he said. “Before we were surviving – things were coming along. And now it’s just gotten quiet.”
But it’s not just this new restaurant that’s affected. Business is also down at the Carousel, a 49-year-old restaurant on Lansdowne St. E. that’s known for its buffet.
“It’s been quiet since they (the casino) opened,” said Carousel owner George Spiridis. “They’re attracting some of our customers – there’s no doubt about it.”
That’s likely because the casino can offer a prime rib and lobster buffet for $19.99, for instance, Spiridis said.
He said he can’t buy the groceries to offer surf and turf for that price – never mind pay the cook and the utilities.
“Basically they’re giving food away,” Spiridis said of the casino.
Meanwhile the downtown BIA executive director says it’s too early to tell whether restaurants in the core will suffer too.
Terry Guiel said some downtown restaurant owners have been concerned – but he’s still optimistic.
“We’ve got some of the most amazing restaurants,” Guiel said. “We do food well, in the downtown.”
Katie Watt is one downtown restaurateur who isn’t particularly worried.
She and her husband, chef Brad Watt, opened Publican House Brew Pub on Charlotte St. in the summer of 2017 after two years of renovations.
She said she was more concerned about potentially losing kitchen staff, when the casino opened, than she was about losing customers.
There’s a severe shortage of kitchen staff in the city, she said, and she thought the casino buffet would hire people away.
But so far so good: she hasn’t had any trouble retaining her workers.
Outside the downtown, at least one large restaurant is unaffected by the casino’s opening.
One Fine Food on Lansdowne St. near the mall is busier now than it was at this time last year, said head chef Blair Chami.
He says they don’t compete with the casino buffet.
“We have such a niche, right?” he said. “We’re more fine-dining, less fast-service… We do everything from scratch, which will never be a casino’s M.O.”