‘People are happy to be out again:’ Restaurants reopening in Saskatchewan

Restaurant owners are excited about reopening.

Many restaurants have already begun opening their doors to the public, seating up to 50 per cent of their normal capacity.

Saskatchewan’s $2.4 billion dollar foodservice industry represents three per cent of the province’s GDP and is the province’s third-largest private-sector employer.

Restaurants Canada had claimed that around 25,000 foodservice jobs in Saskatchewan had been lost because of COVID-19.

“Operators that I talked to were excited that they were able to open. People are happy to be out again, these are good signs,” said Jim Bence, President of the Saskatchewan Hotel and Hospitality Association.

Despite the excitement, the outcome was pretty much as predicted based on national trends, as people weren’t necessarily streaming out of their homes to go to local restaurants.

“Maybe about 20 per cent broke even, and about 60 per cent operated at a loss which is really what everyone is keeping an eye on,” said Bence. “Everyone is curious as to what the revenue is going to look like.”

When it comes to bars, Bence says that consumers understand social distancing and that nothing has gotten out of hand based on what bar owners have told him.

“I think as we go through this, I hope we can increase the speed in which we increase table sizes and look at restrictions moving forward,” said Bence.

“We’re ready to get back into business.”

The foodservice industry might be making some progress, but the hotel industry is in a very tough situation.

“There has been measures put in place like deferral of taxes, but when those run out everyone is looking at each other and asking the same question, how do we possibly survive?” said Bence when asked about the state of the hotel industry in Saskatchewan.

“It’s really bad right now, when you talk to operators and they have 200 plus rooms and only 9 reservations, you know there is no way you can continue to operate,” said Bence.

“It’s important to move forward and allow hotels to have the opportunity in their meeting room space to open up the same way restaurants would. If you have a meeting room that could hold 100, then allow us to have a meeting of 50,” added Bence.

“We need our chief medical officer to take some feedback and think in terms of the economy.”