Yukon restaurant dining rooms can now reopen, but can they recover?

Tony Dovos says the COVID-19 pandemic has been a "disaster" for his business.

"It's horrendous," said Dovos, who owns and runs the Drunken Goat Taverna in Dawson City, Yukon. "I operate 12 months out of a year. And the wintertime is the toughest one.

"And I was hoping, you know, to be able to get going for the summer season — and it just didn't happen."

Since March, restaurants in Yukon have only been able to provide take-out and delivery meals, and bars have been closed. For Dovos, that means he's been making a few pizzas a day — hardly enough to pay his bills.

Starting Friday, restaurants in Yukon can reopen their dining rooms to customers, but under strict new guidelines from health officials. Seating capacity must be halved to allow for physical distancing, and health officials have to approve any plans to reopen. They'll also do inspections.

Dovos says he isn't going to bother opening his dining room — he doesn't think it's worth it.

"I depend on the miners and the tourists, and that's already gone. You know, I mean the season is gone for everybody, just about everybody."

He figures he'll lose about $100,000 in business this year. He's not sure how he'll pay the bills, or keep operating even as a take-out place. Typically, the money he makes over the summer months helps keep him afloat through the rest of the year.

Antoinette Greenoliph, a restauranteur in Whitehorse, is in the same boat. Even if she's allowed to reopen her dining room under the new guidelines, the financial damage of the last couple of months has already been done.

"We've all lost a lot of money not being in business. And we're also very grateful for the help the government has been giving ... but without a proper revenue, you just keep digging yourself deeper and deeper in a hole," she said. 

'18 years of busting my ass'

Greenoliph says it took a long time to build up her business and learn the financial ropes. She was not getting rich, but her restaurant had developed a reputation and a loyal customer base.  

"Eighteen years. 18 years of busting my ass," she said. 

She's been able to make a bit of money during the pandemic by preparing and selling frozen meals, but it's not enough to keep her going in the long term. She describes it as three days' work for one day of revenue.

Still, Greenoliph is reluctant to just run with the new guidelines and throw open her doors again. She still has to submit a plan to health officials, and her idea is to just open her patio starting next week, for two nights per week. Diners will need to make reservations, she says.  

"My plan is to just to do three seatings [per day], with half-hour spacing in between so we can clean. And then just go from there," she said.

Greenoliph doesn't expect things to return to "normal" for a while yet — maybe a year or two, she says — and so she's not sure if she'll be able to hang on and weather the storm.

"I just can't. I just can't. I can't. It makes no sense. I'm 63, soon to be 64. I'm supposed to be retiring soon and my whole life, all my retirement is wrapped up in this," she said.

And it's not just about business and profits, she says — operating under the new guidelines means her restaurant just won't be the same. She sees her loyal customers as "family," and she loved creating a casual, social atmosphere. That gets harder with restricted seating, physical distancing, and her own anxiety about the pandemic.

"I'm freaked out by it," she said.

"Until they have a vaccination that says, 'Yes, we're all good now, it's an absolute' ... even then I'll be cautious about opening fully."