Restaurant owners in the Owen Sound area are enjoying seating customers again, after the return of limited outdoor dining last week.
Ontario’s restrictions changed on June 11 to allow patio dining of up to four people per table. This follows months of restaurants being limited to take-out only since the provincewide emergency brake was put in place on April 3.
Local restaurant operators like Owen Sound East Side Mario’s General Manager Shawn Floyd say it has been fantastic to see people since the re-opening.
When asked how challenging the restaurant found the period to be when they were restricted to take-out only, Floyd says he found it to be very much so.
“If it wasn’t for the government grants and wage subsidies, we probably would have locked the doors,” Floyd explains.
He adds they are also facing challenges with bringing staff back as he says several businesses in town are also looking for employees.
Moving forward, Floyd says he would like hard timelines from the government in terms of planning, noting they had a difficult time finding staff to work on the first weekend of patio dining.
“If they want to move up the dates, we just would like more time to get ready for it,” says Floyd.
Cobble Beach’s Sweetwater Restaurant Executive Chef Jeremy McKinnon says the first weekend of open patios went very well for them.
“The vibe around here was phenomenal, everyone was so excited to be back,” explains McKinnon.
During the time the restaurant was restricted to take out, McKinnon says the financial burden was not too bad and not too much of a challenge as the restaurant opted to run a smaller menu until patio dining was available.
McKinnon notes bringing staff back was also not an issue, as their employees were eager to return.
The owner of Sizzlin Restaurant in downtown Owen Sound David Verburg says it was a great experience welcoming people back onto their patio, despite being at half capacity.
“We had it filled the whole time we were open,” says Verburg.
Verburg says they found the time when they were only permitted to do take out very financially challenging, adding how it is easier to visit the east or west side of the city to get take out.
“Skip The Dishes did help but then you are giving them the commission on the food which ends up moving your profit margins down the drain, but at least we are getting new customers that way,” says Verburg. “We found that when we opened the patio, we got some of those customers that we weren’t getting before.”
He says all they would like to do is get back to normal, but quips with Premier Doug Ford it always seems to be another two weeks.
“The way the government handled it was all the sudden you were supposed to open up, then two more weeks, and then another two more weeks,” says Verburg. “A lot of businesses like myself, we lost a lot of product. Beer was the biggest thing. I have 12 beers on tap; I lost them all.”
With communication from the provincial government, he says he would like to hear on a two-week basis if the measures are progressing or regressing, so to give an opportunity to react to the government’s decisions.
Verburg is encouraging everyone to support local during this time.
With the first phase of Ontario’s re-opening, restaurants are able to host up to four people per table. This is set to increase to six when the province moves into step two, which isn’t expected to start until at least July 2.
Indoor dining will not be available for restaurants until step three of the re-opening plan.