As the patio season for Atlantic Canada's bars and restaurants nears an end, owners are calling for changes to help generate more indoor dining revenue during the fall and winter months.
Kevin Murphy, president of the Murphy Hospitality Group said he wants to see P.E.I.'s 50-person indoor dining capacity lifted.
"That's hindering our ability to do business," he said.
The Murphy group owns several bars and restaurants including The Gahan House in Charlottetown, Halifax and New Brunswick, and the P.E.I. Brewing Company,
Nova Scotia doesn't have a capacity limit, only two-metre social distancing between tables.
"There's no reason we're not allowed to operate responsibly and social distance and all the other protocols," Murphy said.
"That has to be dealt with because, yes, we're doing a great job with health, but your economy is taking it on the chin that it not necessarily has to be that way.
"The summer's over. That's not what we're talking about here. We're trying to make the best of a very bad situation with COVID-19, and not asking more than what other provinces have."
On Thursday, Restaurants Canada released a Foodservice Facts Report that raises concerns about the impact COVID-19 will have on the industry as businesses move into the fall and winter. An issue raised is patios eventually closing as the weather changes and the loss of sales, and possible consumer nervousness or trepidation about indoor licensed dining.
According to the report, the food service industry in Canada was expected to surpass $100 billion in sales in 2021, up from $93 billion in 2019. With COVID-19 impacting businesses, the industry expects to lose between $21.9 billion and $44.8 billion in sales this year.
Downtown workers missed
Brendan Doherty, co-owner of the Old Triangle Irish Alehouse in Halifax, has two patios and a shared outdoor patio space with McKelvie's Seafood Restaurant on Bedford Row. He estimates there's seating for 85 to 90 people on all three combined. And with the weather cooling this week, he's starting to see the number of outdoor customers dwindle.
Doherty said he's working on a plan to find creative ways to bring in customers and accommodate for patios eventually shutting down.
He said reduced seating due to social distancing really isn't an issue as much as reduced demand. One thing he'd like to see is more people returning to work downtown.
"Getting people back downtown working in some sort of capacity, I think, would be beneficial for everyone downtown. When the weather's good, downtown is a draw on its own, but when the weather's bad, it's kind of hard to motivate yourself to go downtown."
Murphy said people on P.E.I. are going to start seeing seasonal restaurants closing earlier this year. He's planning to do the same with Fishbones Oyster Bar and Seafood Grill on Richmond Street in Charlottetown (Victoria Row), and he is also wondering what to do with his other Charlottetown restaurants, including reducing operating hours. He agrees that getting more people, especially government workers, back working downtown and spending money needs to happen.
"There's no reason that government workers are not back in their offices. They're asking kids to go back to school but you can't have your government workers back in your office? ... That is part of the solution."
Another challenge is what happens when wage and rent subsidy programs come to an end.
"Those have been the lifeline for most businesses in the hospitality and tourism industry over the last 12 weeks - 100 per cent."
Murphy said businesses may not have lost any money this summer due to the subsidies, but that also doesn't mean they made any money.
"Now, they're going into the winter again with no cash reserves, and that's the problem."
The Atlantic bubble has helped, but the tourism industry isn't what it was before COVID-19. And there are questions about what the industry may look like next year given the uncertainly around conventions and meetings, cruise ships, U.S. visitors and music festivals, he said.
"It's interesting times. But we have to learn to live with COVID and operate in a very prudent manner that takes health into consideration but also takes in your livelihood and way of life on Prince Edward Island."
