Moose Jaw restaurant praised for closing dining room by choice

The owner of a restaurant in Moose Jaw has decided to close his dining room, even though he isn’t required to do so under public health measures.

Brandon Richardson, who owns Deja Vu, told the Greg Morgan Morning Show his decision was based on prioritizing community safety amid rising cases of COVID-19 in the area.

“We just want to see what we can do to do our part to try and make sure everyone is safe,” Richardson said.

Richardson suspected that many customers were travelling from Regina, contrary to public health advice, which discourages non-essential travel to and from that city.

“We have a lot of people come, we don’t know exactly where they’re all from. They come in, they phone an order in and say they’re near Belle Plaine,” he said.

“We were quite surprised that the next week, (health officials) did not shut down Moose Jaw because everyone travels … We just took it upon ourselves. We can make our own decisions.”

Richardson said the reaction has been positive, with customers praising the decision. Takeout and delivery orders have been strong, he added.

The pandemic has forced him to operate differently, creating an online ordering system to serve a clientele that increasingly prefers to avoid handling cash or even interactions with staff.

“We’re old school. We did everything on pen and paper,” Richardson said.

“Hopefully by summertime, things will be a little bit better. If we continue just sitting around and wait to see what happens, it’s going to go on and on and on.”