Restaurants preparing for lifting of restrictions

“On busier nights, it’s been difficult to make it work, so that’s been a big relief for us,” he said. “Having six people at a table has been big.”

Petersen said he’s looking to hire more employees, as he expects things to gradually get busier. They’re also already doing some preparations for when holiday gathering occur in December.

“We’re putting plans in place for that, so we’re pretty positive,” Petersen said. “We’ve done everything we could to do the best we can during the pandemic and moving forward people are going to be excited to come out.”

Restaurants in the Battlefords are starting to see more patrons coming out to eat and drink in recent weeks and are expecting an even bigger increase in the next steps of the province's reopening plan. pic.twitter.com/nVqNdzOPP0

— Joshua Ryan (@JoshRyanSports) June 15, 2021

Cautious optimism

While still excited, Dan Klima, and Make Lehman, co-owners of Country Cousine, are a little bit more wary regarding the shift in public health mandates this summer, given how many times they’ve had to reverse course over the past year. There’s also a number of challenges they’re anticipating in eventually opening up at full capacity.

“Bringing in more staff and adjusting to high demand, we’re not sure exactly what that will look like,” Lehman said.

Even while working at 30 per cent capacity, Klima said they’ve had many days where the staff is pushed hard by the demand of people lining up or ordering takeout and that they will need to adjust when limits change. However, he added they are all looking forward to having more people and eventually not having to wear masks.

“It’s been a long, trying period with a lot of changes and it was a constant calculation of how much money do you want to spend,” Klima said. “So, we’ll see what happens.”

Thankful ahead of change

Rachel Lee, owner of Beaver Grill Exprezz, said since Step one of the province’s plan in 2021, customer volume has picked up considerably.

Most people have more than four for a table and it’s often very awkward and inconvenient,” she said. “You’d have to separate at dinner time. But now that there’s six per table and there will soon be no limit on table numbers, which will be great.”

“People are encouraged to come out more often.”

(Josh Ryan/battlefordsNOW)

Businesses that have extra space will be able to take advantage of the Step two changes most effectively. Lee said she’s grateful for her set up.

“I’m the luckiest person in town for having the largest space to work with,” she said. “That’s been a blessing, even though I lost six tables in the middle.”

However, Lee said she also has some reservations about going back to normal, in terms of how it will effect both staff and customers. In order to make it a gradual adjustment, Beaver Grill will maintain most of it’s current table structure in spacing, as well as maintain some form of masking for a time. Lee said the table placement will make it easier on staff in particular, as it’s been hard enough running around while masked.

“Running when it’s busy and hot in summer time, it’s difficult,” she said. “I think I will go back to the clear shield to start, to still have some space between myself and the customers.”

Ultimately, she said she’s thankful to see a little light at the end of the tunnel and that no one in the staff got sick.

“Didn’t happen at all the entire time,” she said. “And everyone was very cooperative, so thankful for that too.”

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josh.ryan@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports

by Josh Ryan

Restaurants preparing for lifting of restrictions

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