Smitty's restaurants in Winnipeg find potential workaround for household-only dining
Owner says social distancing maintained in new, glassed-in rooms
When the province allowed restaurants to operate at 50-per-cent capacity again in early March, Valerie Funk wanted to come up with a creative idea to encourage her customers to come back to one of her restaurants.
Funk, who owns six Smitty's restaurants in the Winnipeg area along with her husband, says COVID-19 fears have kept most customers away from her location at 1629 Kenaston Blvd.
"In November, when they shut us down completely, it's been such a struggle here," she said.
Funk and her husband own six Smitty's locations in the Winnipeg area.
Recently, they repurposed rooms at their restaurants that had been designed for private events and functions. The rooms have a set-up with movable tables spaced out two-metres apart, as in any restaurant — except in this case, the tables are enclosed in a glass room.
Funk says customers can book the rooms to socially gather with different household while maintaining social distance.
"You can close the door and people can speak louder with each other and not interfere with any of the other guests in the building," Funk said.
No clarity from province
The province hasn't specified whether Funk's workaround violates the current public health orders.
In an email to CBC, a spokesperson said a gathering of more than five persons in an indoor place is prohibited, even if diners are distanced and wearing masks.
The spokesperson said it would be case-dependent, but in some cases, it could be considered a gathering if more than five people use the room.
Funk says she believes her restaurants are not breaking any rules: The tables in the room are situated two metres apart and households that use the room can't exceed five people.
"We are still following all current health orders as mandated by Dr. Roussin and Mr. Pallister," she said. "There is nothing that has changed."
Funk says the room at the Kenaston location can accommodate about 15 to 20 people, depending on the number of households.
Group of 10
They had their first booking for the room at Kenaston last Tuesday when a group of 10 used the room during a Winnipeg Jets game, Funk says.
"They mentioned that they had not been together since September so it's been almost six months when they all had gotten together in a location. We were pretty excited to share that moment with them," she said.
Funk says they haven't received any subsequent bookings, but she's hoping now the loosening of restrictions will persuade more customers to use the service.
The Kenaston restaurant, their newest location, was opened in August. But after Winnipeg went into code orange in November, it had to shut down for months and suffered the most, Funk says.
"It's been a journey and we're just excited that people are coming, and the momentum is building again and people are excited to come and see our new location," she said.
