Businesses seek permanent version of temporary patio program

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This article was published 15/05/2023 (904 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As patio season heats up, some local businesses hope an expedited process to register one will be served up every year from now on.

The City of Winnipeg’s temporary patio registration program was created in May 2020 to offer COVID-19 pandemic relief, with a new winter temporary option announced in October 2020.

The program has since been extended by one season at a time.

For some, the option to get city approval to add a seasonal patio quickly — in days instead of weeks — at first proved critical to the bottom line.

“Originally, it was kind of survival mode to be able to be open because all restaurants, tap rooms, bars suffered from the same thing when (provincial health orders) restricted the (indoor) occupancy… Outside, you could expand that. At that time, it was a matter of survival,” said Matthew Wolff, operations manager of Torque Brewing (330-830 King Edward St.).

“For a lot of locations, it was about bringing people in and making them feel comfortable and safe… Last year and this year, what it morphed into was really a matter of having a nice, extra space.”

The city still offers permits for permanent patios, as well — which take longer to secure and the structures don’t have to be set up and removed each season.

Torque applied for a temporary patio again this year, in part because the seasonal option allows for some parking lot space to be used, Wolff said.

“We take over a certain part of our parking lot to actually accommodate the patio. So, in the wintertime, to allow snow removal (and) snow loads, the patio has to be removed.”

The St. James Industrial neighbourhood business has now switched from a much smaller permanent patio to focus on its time-limited seasonal space.

Wolff said he’d like to see the simple process for seasonal patios offered every year, and not end like many other pandemic programs.

Some businesses say there’s also less risk in adding temporary outdoor dining.

“At the moment, we wanted to see how things went before we committed to doing anything permanent… We were a brand-new business and there was no fee for the temporary patio permit application,” said Drew McGillawee, a manager at Friend Bakery and Pizza, which opened in March.

McGillawee, whose temporary patio opened last week at 380 Osborne St., also hopes the city will offer the expedited seasonal option every year from now on.

“I think any opportunity for small businesses to increase capacity and increase the possibility of revenue is a good thing,” he said.

The number of registrations for temporary patio permits has fluctuated since the program was introduced.

There were 70 registrations (66 summer and four winter) in 2020, followed by 120 in 2021 (114 summer and six winter), and 70 in 2022 (68 summer and two winter). Another 28 temporary summer patios have been registered in 2023 so far.

While pandemic restrictions no longer force businesses to close or cut capacity, temporary patios should still be offered to help boost their financial recovery, said Shaun Jeffrey, executive director of the Manitoba Restaurant & Foodservices Association.

“We need to be able to provide our industry the most (options) to welcome as many guests as possible. Our industry is still struggling from the pandemic and the effects of that.”

The average restaurant now earns about 70 per cent of the revenues it did pre-pandemic, a problem exacerbated by soaring food prices, minimum-wage increases and rising insurance costs, he said.

Jeffrey said those combined pressures are why it’s still common to see one or two restaurants sold or shuttered each week.

“It’s pretty challenging to move your business forward when you’re sitting on a large mountain of debt and then everything you buy, every single day, seems to be 10 or 15 or 20 per cent more expensive.”

Mayor Scott Gillingham, who campaigned on a promise of easier patio permits, said an upcoming report will determine how the city could make seasonal (temporary) patios available every year, and also speed up the process to get a permanent one in place.

Any such changes would require council approval.

“The principle is that business owners that have a restaurant would have an opportunity to establish a patio… assuming they have a space to do so,” said Gillingham.

The mayor said it essentially means a business would be allowed to set up a patio as long as it meets basic requirements, without going through a formal permit process.

“I believe the pandemic showed us, as a city, that these kinds of things can be done. When the pandemic hit, we… moved quickly to put this temporary patio plan in place. I think it showed us a better way.”

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga