CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The December holiday season is usually a busy time for P.E.I. pubs and restaurants with people attending Christmas parties and university students going out more after finishing up the term.
But on Sunday, the P.E.I. government and Dr. Heather Morrison, the province's chief public health officer, announced that dining rooms were closing to the public until Dec. 21.
"We kind of expected it. I didn't think it was going to happen this quick. I thought we'd be open through the Christmas season. I kind of thought it might happen after Christmas (and) after New Year's into January," said Jeff Sinnott on Monday, co-owner (with Chad MacDonald) of the Red Island Hospitality Group Inc., which includes Hunter's Ale House, the Charlottetown Beer Garden and Seafood Patio, the Factory Downtown, John Brown Richmond Street Grille and Hunter's at the Fox (at Fox Meadow Golf Course in Stratford).
"It's unfortunate it happened at a busy time of year for us."
On the weekend, the province announced seven COVID-19 cases in Charlottetown and four more on Monday. No new cases were announced on Tuesday. All of the cases are close contacts with each other, and none of the individuals travelled outside of the province.
Several businesses in Charlottetown, including retail and fast-food restaurants, have been identified as possible exposure sites. In the past couple of weeks, other positive COVID-19 cases have been announced, including a rotational worker, a Charlottetown Rural High School student, a man who travelled to P.E.I. from outside of Atlantic Canada and a patron at two downtown restaurants.
Besides the dining room closures, other restrictions were announced, including that retail stores are required to limit customers to 50 per cent of normal capacity.
Sinnott is keeping Hunter's in Charlottetown open for online ordering, contactless take-out and curbside pickup. He expects to temporarily close the other pubs and restaurants (Hunter's at the Fox is already closed for the season) since they aren't really set up for take-out service, although he said that The Factory may be open for take-out on the weekends.
Sinnott said business was strong during the fall months, especially with patio service and the good weather. But Sinnott also saw business drop with each announcement of a COVID-19 case, including the past two Saturdays, with reservation cancellations usually following. At the time of the dining room closures, Sinnott had some smaller (10-20 people) group parties booked, but the larger Christmas parties had already cancelled.
Over the next couple of weeks, besides take-out and curbside pickup services, Sinnott has some catering events booked.
"Whether or not they cancel, we'll find out soon," he said.
The unfortunate part of the dining room service being temporarily closed is that Sinnott also has to layoff 80 people two weeks before Christmas.
In a press release, Greater Charlottetown Chamber of Commerce CEO Penny Walsh-McGuire said she understands the new restrictions were necessary given the evolving COVID-19 situation.
"We were relieved that retail shops have remained open, even at a reduced capacity of 50 per cent," said Walsh-McGuire. "Businesses have been through this before, and they will adapt and serve customers safely following the new health restrictions and protocols. We continue to ask Islanders to safely support local wherever and whenever they can."
Tara Maddix, executive director of the Summerside Area Chamber of Commerce, said it's disappointing that the province is imposing new restrictions, but given the incidents of COVID-19, she said it's understandable. She also agreed that businesses have been through this before with the temporary shutdown in March and are better prepared this time around with take-out services, reduced retail capacity and cleaning protocols. In terms of retail, Maddix is reminding residents that the Forward Summerside website (www.forwardsummerside.ca/) can help with online shopping over Christmas.
Even though the recent cases originated in Charlottetown and not in Summerside, which is about a 45-minute drive away, Maddix said COVID-19 zones on P.E.I., similar to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and other provinces, aren't practical.
"We're like a big community. So, we recognize that it's challenging for businesses outside of the Charlottetown area because they're not in that initial hot spot, but we do understand why the restrictions were put in place," she said. "We’ve got people who live in Summerside and work in Charlottetown and vice versa. Charlottetown's not that far away."
Terrence McEachern is the business reporter for The Guardian. [email protected] @terry_mcn
