Cold weather patio dining in northern Ontario — this Sudbury restaurant is giving it a go

Restaurants in Sudbury are now having to cope with the onset of winter during a pandemic.

While many expanded their summer patios to earn revenue, a northern Ontario winter is forcing people indoors — and because there is limited space, it may mean fewer customers.

The general manager of downtown's Laughing Buddha says they've added fire tables, heaters and blankets to their patio as a new way to attract customers.

"We've been really strict on all of this, while trying to maintain a comfortable and enjoyable dining experience and keep it safe, but not be over-medicalized," Veronica Desjardins said.

A lack of traffic downtown, in general, is leading to a higher presence of unhoused people and crime. And Desjardins worries about the business they'll lose because the downtown arena, located nearby, is not operating as usual.

Desjardins says they are also working on a plan to bring back live music.

"With the capacity restrictions, we want to be able to offer musicians a fair payment," she said. "We understand what they're undergoing right now and we just want to do it right and safely."

So far, customers seem to like the idea of cold-weather dining.

"People are really excited about it. We had kind of a slow start and then we posted on social media, and it blew up and it was shared all over Facebook and Instagram," she said

"And then for the first few weeks we were finding those tables full every single night."

Keeping the patio open is a big deal for Desjardins' business, as "every single table matters at this point."

She says they are trying to frame the cold weather dining experience as "an activity, rather than something that somebody would do every single day."

"It would be an activity for a birthday party or a bachelorette party, or to come out with family and embrace the winter, embrace the north, embrace where we are. It is the weather that we have."

She notes tables are spaced out at least two metres apart and blankets are washed between uses.

The marshmallow roasters are washed between use, [we are] sanitizing the whole seating area between use," she said.

And they are using QR codes for people to read the menus on their phones.

Desjardins says it's hard to say how long they will extend the outdoor patio season.

"There are those nice winter days where people do enjoy being outside [and our goal is to] host some outdoor live music events, if we can," she said.

They also plan to do some Christmas activities.

"And then moving into the warmer months —  March, April, May — that will really benefit us to have these fire tables."