Power outage a boom for some businesses, a bust for others

Thursday's power outage in Nova Scotia was good and bad news for business owners.

For Jennie Dobbs, the owner of Morris East Restaurant, business was brisk at the Quinpool Road location thanks to a generator.

"Usually, the weather has a negative impact on business, so today we're actually benefiting from it because we are one of the few places with power," she said.

She said if a restaurant loses power, the loss of refrigeration is a big food safety concern.

"To have the peace of mind to know that all of your food and inventory is going to be kept safe is huge," she said.

At its peak, 249,000 Nova Scotia Power customers were without power. The outages also meant that some traffic lights weren't working, which resulted in delays.

At Chef Inspired in Dartmouth, which houses restaurants including Habaneros and Cheese Curds, the business wasn't open to customers.

Executive chef Ronnie Lace said that 300 customers would walk through the doors on a typical Thursday.

"With no power, a lot of businesses in Burnside will close and that will cause big grief for us today," he said.

Lace said that even if the power comes back on, it will take the staff at least an hour to get everything up and running.

For now, the business is doing prep work for the weekend.

"There's only so much we can do," said Lace.

Meanwhile, the search for an open coffee shop had those craving caffeine taking to Twitter to share what was open in the Halifax area.