Bar Isabel closing earlier to give workers 'a little bit more rest'

The owner of popular Toronto restaurant Bar Isabel is giving his employees the night off. Well, the late night, anyway.

In a cheeky video posted to YouTube, owner Grant van Gameren and his staff announced that from Sunday to Thursday, the restaurant will no longer be open until 2 a.m. Instead, it will close at midnight.

Bar Isabel will remain open until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. 

"It's not because we're not busy. It's not financial," van Gameren says in the video. "The only reason why we're doing this is for the quality of life for the staff."

Staff in the video follow up this news with grins, cheers and thumbs up.

The goal, van Gameren says, is to allow chefs, servers and front-of-house staff to "maybe enjoy life a little bit more, maybe get a little bit more rest."

The change takes effect on Nov. 8.

The move comes on the heels of a heated debate over working conditions in the restaurant industry. Over the summer, pastry chef Kate Burnham filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal alleging "rampant" and "unrelenting" sexual harassment while working at a downtown restaurant.

Her complaint sparked a widespread discussion about working conditions in professional kitchens.

Van Gameren says the idea to close early followed the resignation of an employee who cited fatigue as the reason for calling it quits.

Closing at midnight five days a week "is a fair compromise to our customers for a better life for our staff," van Gameren says.

And, he notes, customers can still go to Bar Isabel's sister restaurant, Bar Raval, until 2 a.m., seven days a week, "until we're too tired, there."

In the video, staff members are asked to say the latest time that one of their shifts at Bar Isabel ended. One says 4:30 a.m., another says 4:45 a.m., while yet another says "7:30 in the morning."

Van Gameren acknowledges that restaurant work "is not easy."

"I think a 10-hour shift during the middle of the day is much different than a 10-hour shift that ends at four in the morning," he told CBC News.

General manager Alessandro Pietropaolo said the move likely won't compromise the restaurant's profits.

"You know that dish that isn't correctly executed translates into a customer that's not coming back," he told CBC.

Van Gameren says the move will actually help sustain the business over the long term.

"We want to be around for another 20 years."