Cold Canadian weather brings uncertainty for local restaurants

Restaurants relying on outdoor patios may need to make do with capacity come Fall, Winter

While early stages of COVID-19 response saw restaurants struggling to bring in customers, some relief was granted in the form of reopening restaurants with our region’s entry into phase 3 of reopening. And with the cooperation of municipalities, some restaurants were given the ability to expand their patio capacity to make up for reduced indoor seating – even shutting down streets in certain scenarios. Jody Palubiski is a Partner and CEO of the Charcoal Group of restaurants and says the patio experience of the summer has been an exceptional experience.

“I think the municipalities, locally and beyond, were fantastic to work with when it comes to the expanded patio programs you see around (…) the fact that municipalities did that I think helped probably keep a lot of businesses afloat, and brought a lot of people back to work… and probably provided a lot of fun for people who had a lot of stresses in their life”

As we move into the future, however, Palubiski says restaurants are heading towards further uncertainty. Based on current COVID-19 numbers, he says that the notion that restaurants will be able to expand their capacity indoors is not likely at this point. He says, instead, that restaurants will need to focus on creating the best experience they can with condensed indoor dining – from both an enjoyment and safety perspective.

Palubiski also says that his group of restaurants has looked at prolonging the patio experience for as long as possible. From what he’s seen, Palubiski says restaurant-goers are still opting to sit outside, even on colder days. The Charcoal Group has also invested in outdoor heating to keep the experience comfortable and has begun to look at covered patios as well. There’s a risk though, says Palubiski, that the restaurant experience could change unexpectedly.

“As we’re seeing out in B.C., they’ve started to walk back some of the protocols” says Palubiski. “Nightclubs and banquet halls were able to open, now that’s been walked back because of concerns around case count. I think there’s always a very real possibility that we see a reversal on some of the process we’ve made, and we need to be prepared for that”.

So, what can restaurants do to prepare for the Fall & Winter months? It may be difficult, but Palubiski says that restaurant owners should be planning and preparing for many different outcomes. He says that having solid information to make decisions on may be paramount, but businesses need to be sitting down and planning what the next few months hold in store.

“We could be in this for several more months – I worry about individuals who I talk to who haven’t really looked at their business from that perspective”.