Restaurants across the Battlefords are dealing with low attendance due to COVID-19 (Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Josh Ryan

No dinner's out

Battlefords restaurants feeling effects of COVID-19

Mar 19, 2020 | 3:16 PM

Restaurateurs in the Battlefords already made operational changes prior to Saskatchewan’s State of Emergency, which limits dinner gatherings to 50 people and calls for a distance of two metres or more. Now, they’re trying to figure out how to manage only getting a handful of people in throughout the day.

“It’s a minute by minute, day by day, sort of thing, trying to decide what is best for our business,” Porta Bella owner Stacey Caldwell said. “How we can keep our heads above water for when this blows over.”

The number of customers eating out at restaurants is shrinking daily, with few cases of families or groups attending a spot together amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. After Wednesday’s announcement from the province, that trend is likely to continue, and with less volume, comes less work for employees. Blend owner/GM Robin Petersen let half of the staff go on temporary leave with records of employment, in order to get ahead of unemployment.

“We’re trying to make decisions for them,” Petersen said. “It’s not about if we are going to make any money right now, it’s about how much we’re going to lose and what are the best choices to make.”

Those choices are being made by restaurateurs across the region. No matter how small the volume of customers is getting, owners and managers feel a responsibility to their team.

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“I have quite a few full time employees who rely on this income to support their families,” Caldwell said. “None of my staff have a penny of vacation days left; they’ve taken them for Christmas or emergencies. So, they are living day-to-day, hand-to-mouth right now.”

Even smaller costs, like cleaning supplies, are taking a toll on the industry. Caldwell said the team at Porta Bella pride themselves on keeping their restaurant clean, but have gone to such extremes in sanitizing the building that the skin on employees’ hands are constantly cracking.

“We bought a thousand dollars’ worth of cleaning supplies and hand every customer sanitary wipes,” she said.

To stay afloat during the pandemic, owners are looking at any solution, including making changes to the menu or limiting menus. A major focus is on pickup and delivery, where restaurants like Blend are seeing the majority of volume. Even this reduction in direct customer interaction required change.

“We’ve made it available for curbside pick-up. Customers can pay with credit card or over the phone,” he said. “We do deliveries where people pay over the phone and then we drop it at their door, so there’s less interaction that way.”

Restaurants like Blend are looking for solutions to low attendance during the province’s State of Emergency, including a greater focus on takeout and delivery. (Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW Staff)

While that’s helped some restaurants, it’s a struggle for others that are primarily focused on the in-house experience. Caldwell is currently looking for new take out containers to provide better storage for large meals families could order, but she isn’t sure how they will manage against other businesses who already do large volume of meals outside the establishment.

“So, I guess we’re looking at every option we can,” Caldwell said. “I don’t know what else we can do.”

Despite the situation, there’s still a concerted effort to help organizations throughout the community. Petersen has prioritized maintaining support for the Boys and Girls Club, which has people that rely on them for meals.

“The Battlefords is a great place and a lot of the restaurants do contribute to that program,” Petersen said.

And that spirit is what Caldwell believes the community will need to get through the coming weeks and months.

“I guess we gotta stick together, support each other and do the best we can,” she said.

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josh.ryan@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports