Why some restaurants aren’t reopening even though restrictions have eased

WINNIPEG – As Manitoba eases restrictions and allows dine-in service at restaurants, some local business owners are opting to not open because it doesn’t make sense for their businesses.

Kevin Jones, owner of Jonesy’s Restaurant and Lounge is keeping his doors shut for now. Jones says at 25 per cent capacity he would lose money to bring in the required staff to cook for and serve the few diners allowed in.

Jones says he would open his doors at 50 per cent capacity, or if multiple households could sit at the same table. Current health resections stipulate they can not.

“We’ve had nonstop calls trying to get in as soon as we are opening, Wasabi on Taylor is fully booked for reservations already for the weekend,” said Jones.

Paige Morrow is the manager of Wasabi on Broadway and says it’s been all-hands-on-deck to get ready to open since the province announced relaxed restrictions. The desire to be in a restaurant and dine in from her clients has been huge, she says.

“I mean it is one of the busiest nights of the year for us as well,” said Wasabi group owner Cho Venevongsa.

Venevongsa says he has told everyone booking reservations it’s household family members at the table only and his staff will be checking everyone’s ID at the door. They keep records to contact trace if necessary.

Venevongsa says it was hard to find enough staff to open his restaurant’s doors. The industry and people who work in it have been decimated by COVID-19 shutdowns and Venevongsa says some of his restaurants won’t open until next week because he cant find enough staff.

In the meantime, he is offering curbside Valentine’s Day sushi boxes from his dine-in closed locations.

“I think the keyword is ‘dire’. Restaurants have accumulated unprecedented amounts of debt whether they are open or not,” explained James Rilett, the vice president of Restaurants Canada.

Rilett says pandemic restrictions have put restaurant owners in extremely serious and urgent circumstances across the country.

Valentine’s Day is a big revenue day for the industry and this year the holiday falls on a weekend, which would generate even more money, Rilett says. It’s great Manitoba can open at a quarter of the regular capacity, but that’s a drop in the bucket for what will be missed, he says.

“That’s just not going to be there this year its yet another thing that we missed. We missed the holiday season, we missed the Superbowl season, they are just adding up. It is a big weekend for our industry and hopefully we can get out of this soon,” said Rilett.