How are restaurants coping? Many repeat the question as we approach 10 months of lockdowns, shutdowns, and the presently enacted Ontario stay-at-home order. This has an impact across the total economy, but the hospitality industry is being particularly battered by regulations, rules and restrictions.
Can they survive on take-out? Can they recover from empty seats, tables devoid of diners, and margins that potentially show negative numbers? Will they just tough it out?
While many restaurants just have a Facebook page or a telephone number, some don’t answer calls nor update any information. A webpage – if they have one – sometimes may make reference to March or April of 2020, the early days of the pandemic. No answer though does not mean they are shuttered; many say are just overwhelmed by the month after month of challenges.
Some restaurants traditionally take a hiatus after the holidays. We cannot confirm their current status as voicemail boxes are full or deliver no response. There is much community-wide speculation concerning certain properties.
“I don't want to name restos specifically, but many are on the edge and some will close for sure,” one person told me. Another offered, “Any buffets are likely never to reopen.”
Don’t listen to hearsay. Call, email, order food and support places you like, love and enjoy. Spring is less than two months away, and with that comes hope and renewal.
This a call to action. All managers and owners should go through their list of past reservations, find their clients and call their “regulars” and restaurant family. Call five a day (that’s 35 quick calls in a week) every day. They should put out clear messages about hours of operation for take-out.
They should use social media and tell the world they are open for business. They can use roadside signs and shout out “We Are HERE!” Updating daily or at least weekly should be a standard operating procedure.
This requires effort, but if it ensures traffic and ultimately sales, then it is worth it. Share your feature of the day, build grab-and-go packages for singles, couples and families. See something that is working for another property then copy it and share it with others.
We hear, watch, and read news reports that say 110,000 restaurants have closed across the U.S., and a CTV survey in August 2020 predicted more than half of Canadian restaurants would close permanently within months. The Western Investor magazine reported on Dec. 20, 2020, that nationally 10,000 closed. It all sounds so grim.
Restaurants Canada launched a national campaign using the tagline “Picture Life without Restaurants,” to encourage preservation, maybe just treading water, and choices other than closure. Perhaps Sudbury is bucking the trend. Save for a handful, few have shut their doors; for some it is just — hopefully — a temporary phase during the stay-at-home order.
“Restaurants face a long, uphill battle,” said Monika Fike, editor at LinkedIn News. “Seven months into the pandemic, the restaurant industry (U.S.) faces a $240-billion loss, according to the National Restaurant Association. Government Funds, like the Paycheck Protection Program, helped some restaurants bring back employees, but the future of the industry hangs in balance.”
If, as she claims, disposable personal income will dip 6.5 per cent in 2021, this too will have a negative impact specifically on fine dining.
Julie Littman in Restaurant Dive looked deeper into various sectors of the restaurant world.
“A majority (83 per cent) of the fine dining operators expect lower sales in the next six months, while 39 per cent of quick-service restaurants expect higher sales … Over half of U.S. adults also know of a restaurant that has closed during the pandemic. The future is going to be tough for independents, but those that have leaned heavily into technology may have a better chance at survival, says the National Restaurant Association.”
Sure enough, there is a bright spot: digital orders are up.
“Pre-coronavirus, one out of 20 orders were digital, now it is one in five,” Fike said.
Does this equate with an increase in total sales? That is not necessarily proving the case; in some regional markets, it just shows a shift in behaviour.
For a view across the community, Sudbury’s Shawn Poland offered a window (possibly a takeout window) into how choices and impact for even food-fast can be homegrown.
“While I love to cook and have taken advantage of the pandemic to experiment more in the kitchen, we prioritize 'eating local' when it comes to dining or takeaway, including a nostalgic indulgence of a chicken or steak-on-bun, now and then, from one of Sudbury's hallmark drive-through destinations, Deluxe!”
We all wait for the time when we can sit down for some home-cooked goodness at Kate’s Kountry Kitchen on Highway 17 or a memorable repast at Pasta e Vino. The fries at Deluxe taste best when sitting on their orange banquets.
But for now there are things we can do as consumers: If only once a week, take-out should be on your agenda to help keep Sudbury’s awesome restaurant scene humming until they can open their dining rooms again.
Remember we are all in this together.
Hugh Kruzel is a committed foodie and a freelance writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat is made possible by our Community Leaders Program. Are you an advertiser? Learn more about our Community Leaders Program here.
