In-restaurant dining returns

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This article was published 16/02/2021 (2034 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Encouraged by Friday’s partial reopening, local restaurateurs are champing at the bit for further loosening of restrictions.

As per government regulation, they are now allowed to reopen at 25 per cent capacity, with patron groups limited to members of the same household.

Joe Beeverz Bar & Grill was one of many local restaurants to reopen to in-restaurant diners Friday.

“It was nice to serve food on a plate as opposed to a takeout box, so those small victories are nice,” owner Chad Wallin said.

Current restrictions don’t change things too much, however.

“From our lens, you look at it as a lunchtime business — a lot of our lunch crowd is office crews or friends and colleagues coming out for work,” he said, adding they’re not from the same household and are therefore unable to dine together.

Further, the 25 per cent capacity doesn’t allow him to bring back as many staff members as he’d like, with the restaurant now up to approximately 15 of its regular crew of 40.

Delivery and curbside pickup will remain the restaurant’s “driving force” until restrictions are loosened further and consumer confidence returns.

“I don’t foresee our business model changing from what it was from the last three months until that happens,” he said.

At Benny’s Restaurant on Friday, owner Ben Hernandez said they filled to 25 per cent capacity “almost instantly because there’s so little space.”

“A lot of people are desperate to get out of their house, but we have so little space so there’s little we can do,” he said. “People are dying to get out.”

He then held off in-person dining until today, when he said the restaurant will be well staffed.

From there, he plans on “playing it by ear” to see how it continues to roll out.

Browns Socialhouse manager Dustin Page said a rush of regulars came in when the restaurant reopened to patrons Friday.

“It’s great to have faces in here and to be able to socialize with our regulars and our guests when they come in,” he said. “Everyone is really, really excited here.”

At Shawarma Queen, where there are only four tables, owner Kyle Koksal said it wasn’t worthwhile opening the lone table they were allowed.

He’s waiting until the government allows at least 50 per cent capacity, and is centring on delivery and curbside pickup for the time being.

He’s also beating the “shop local” drum as hard as he can— a direction he’s striving to lead by example by purchasing as much stock as possible from locally owned businesses.

“Local comes here,” he said. “Local supports local — that’s the only way to go.”

Thankful for the forward momentum, Wallin said he hopes to see it continue.

“Another step backward in our industry would be surely detrimental,” he said. “It’s been three times already in the past year where we’ve had open, close, open, close, hire, layoff, hire, layoff, so I hope this is the last time we have to go through that.”

The restaurateurs contacted for this story said it’ll be no issue bringing staff members back whenever restrictions loosen further.

Staff at Joe Beeverz are “waiting in the wings, champing at the bit to get back to work,” owner Chad Wallin said.

“For our industry, usually for anybody in the hospitality industry, you’re a social person to begin with … so you crave those interactions and you crave those relationships,” he said.

“They’re literally just waiting for the call or the government to loosen some restrictions.”

Hernandez reports a similar attitude among the staff he had to lay off at Benny’s.

“We had a staff meeting last Sunday, and everyone’s available to come back to work and they understand even if it’s only three hours per day they’re still happy to come back to work,” he said.

At Browns Socialhouse, Page said approximately 90 per cent of those they’ve reached out to return to work thus far have returned, and have been “eager to come back.”

Shawarma Queen has been in the fortunate position of not having to lay anyone off.

Federal assistance from the federal and provincial governments helped keep their payroll up to date, Koksal said.

Restaurateurs appear divided as to how they’re going to enforce the government rule that patron groups be limited to members of the same household.

Browns Socialhouse is going all in by having patrons present a piece of identification to confirm they have the same address.

At Benny’s, Hernandez said he was uncertain as to how the rule would be enforced.

“I hope people are understanding and they don’t take it out on me and my staff when we say, ‘Sorry, we can’t take your reservation because you’re not from the same house,’” he said, adding it’ll be awkward turning people away when he has an empty restaurant.

At Joe Beeverz, Wallin said it remains unclear how the issue will be policed.

“We’re doing what we can to maintain the safety of all our guests and staff, but at the end of the day a lot of it comes down to people’s honesty,” he said. “We try our best to enforce it, but we’re certainly not going to get into an argument about where they live and who they live with — that’s not really our position.”

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB