P.E.I. restaurants planning to lose money this summer, but open anyway

The summer of 2020 will almost certainly be a season of losses for the P.E.I. restaurant industry, say three prominent operators, but they plan to work their way through it.

"The math just doesn't make sense with a 160,000 population versus the 1.6 million visitors," said Steve Murphy, owner of Slaymaker and Nichols in Charlottetown and Blue Mussel Café in North Rustico.

"We're definitely faced with a season of losses. It's not going to be a profitable year by any means but we're excited nonetheless to get open."

P.E.I.'s ease-back plan currently has the opening of restaurant dining rooms scheduled for June 12. Since mid-March, restaurants have had to rely on takeout and curbside pickup. Murphy said that business has been well supported at Slaymaker and Nichols — Blue Mussel is not open for the season yet — but it is not enough to operate the business profitably.

Liam Dolan, owner of Peakes Quay in Charlottetown, agrees there is little prospect for profit in 2020.

"Thirty seven years I've been in business and here I am planning to open up to lose money. I've never had this model before," said Dolan.

But Dolan said he will go ahead anyway. He has a responsibility to his tenants, he said, to create an attractive atmosphere at Peakes Quay.

"It would look pretty dreary-looking if I kept the boards on the windows down on the waterfront in Charlottetown. I think it's my duty as much as anything else to create that atmosphere," he said.

In the eastern P.E.I. community of Cardigan, Clam Diggers owner Arlene Smith feels that same sense of responsibility.

"We're part of the community here in Cardigan and we feel it's our obligation to carry on," said Smith.

Her staff has been with her for years and have been like family, she said, and she wants to provide them with the ability to make some money as well.

All three said that there are many unknowns surrounding the coming season, but that the recent news has been good.

The news they are all waiting for is that it is safe to open up the provincial border to allow some tourists in. That, they said, would make a huge difference in the prospects for the industry.

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