N.S. restaurants 'going to look a lot different' when they reopen amid COVID-19

Some restaurant and bar owners in the Halifax area are warning their returning patrons to expect a much different experience when they reopen their doors this weekend.

The province has told restaurants and pubs they can welcome patrons into their establishments effective Friday, June 5 — provided they can ensure proper physical distancing.

"I think for all the guests coming into the restaurants they used to go to, it's going to look a lot different," said George Christakos, the owner of Battery Park Beer Bar and Eatery in Dartmouth and the Brooklyn Warehouse in Halifax.

"There's gonna be a lot fewer seats. The servers are going to have masks on. It's definitely not going to be looking like it used to."

Christakos said he's trying to embrace the new rules and get a little creative. He said there'll be vintage windows hung at the bar at Battery Park to separate the patrons from the bartenders. The addition of more barriers in the front of house will give the craft brew pub a whole new esthetic.

And opening again after a two-month-plus shutdown is a bit like going into business for the first time — there are a lot of unknowns.

The typical after-work or lunch crowd may not be as brisk as it once was. And some patrons simply may not be ready to venture out just yet. With this in mind, he's rethinking his hours of operation at both locations.

"You've got to make really safe decisions right now," Christakos saaid. "You've got to open up your services that are going to be profitable. If you've got your staff twiddling their thumbs on a Tuesday lunch because technically guys and gals at a workplace aren't really supposed to be coming to lunch together, right?

"They're not supposed to be within six feet of each other in a workplace and if they have to be, they need to wear masks. I don't think that makes sense that those individuals all of a sudden take the mask off and sit at a table together."

Christakos said because of public health restrictions surrounding who can gather together, business lunches are unlikely.

"It's probably going to be couples who have been, you know, stuck in their homes," he said. "They might be families that want to come over for brunch."

It'll be a challenge for those in the industry to turn around a reasonable profit with only 50 per cent capacity, and a public still shaken by a deadly virus with no vaccine.

On the plus side, they've gotten some government help. Restaurant owners can apply to the federal government for help under the Canada emergency wage subsidy. Successful applicants need only pay 25 per cent of staff wages because the federal government picks up the remaining 75 per cent. It's an offer that runs out at the end of August.

"Without the wage subsidy program, it'll be very hard for us to be profitable at 50 per cent seating," said George Kapetanakis, owner of the Armview Restaurant and Lounge in Halifax.

"There's been some challenges, but generally we've been pretty fortunate. A lot of our staff has been kind of chomping at the bit to get back to work and get back to a regular routine."

Kapetanakis is hoping the city and the province will be open to some creative ideas to create space. Next door to his restaurant is a small city-owned park with a view of the Northwest Arm.

"I think people are going to be looking for places where they can go and be able to social distance and if we've got pieces of land in front of businesses that we could potentially use, then I think this is a good time to start exploring these kind of out of the box kind of solutions," he said.

But not all restaurants are ready. The owner of Talay Thai in Halifax said they're just not comfortable welcoming patrons into their operation given the virus is still present. The restaurant declined an interview with CBC News.

But it's a feeling Christakos said he understands. He's heard it from his own staff.

"I think that they feel — my Brooklyn Warehouse staff — for them it was always a concern about the safety of interacting with the public," he said. "And now that the numbers are so much lower now and the province is telling us that we can open back up, they're good to open back up."

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