Restaurants adapt to new restrictions

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This article was published 30/03/2020 (2173 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Instead of mouth-watering bacon and eggs, these days the strong odour of cleaning supplies may be the first thing that hits you heading through the doors of your go-to neighbourhood diner.

Henry, 58, sat down with a friend for lunch at the Salisbury House on Leila Avenue Sunday afternoon. He said he’s been sticking to the rules and not going out very often, but he felt safe due to the distance between all the tables. All restaurants are mandated to keep occupied tables a minimum of six-feet apart.

“You gotta get out of the house to get some fresh air,” Henry said. “If you stay in the house too long, you’re going to get sick no matter what you do. You got to get outside… You got to live life. You can’t hibernate.”

Local eateries are following an incredibly long list of measures to allow customers to dine in during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ve never seen pinker or redder hands,” said Michael Kaye, Salisbury House’s senior marketing manager.

“We’re almost going through band-aids faster than we’re going through sanitizer. You can’t even put moisturizer on because you’re dealing with food, right? It’s been hard.”

When employees aren’t washing their hands, chances are you’ll see them wearing latex gloves and sanitizing a table. There’s a lot more to it than giving it a quick wipe with a wet cloth.

“Sanitizing the tables goes through a four-step process. Everything has to be cleaned,” Kaye explained.

Kaye said the restaurants have cloths for sanitizing tabletops and others for cleaning seats and booths — all of which is handled with certified sanitizing products.

That brings up another one of the rules — no more line-ups. If a table isn’t ready, customers must wait in their vehicle and the restaurant will call them once they’re able to come in.

This weekend was the last chance to grab a Nip under the restaurant’s iconic red roof. Starting today, Sals locations will only offer pickup and delivery, after the 10-person gathering limit rule was implemented by the province. Kaye said it’s been something Sals has been preparing for, as they’ve put an emphasis on take-out and delivery for the past week.

‘It’s a new adventure, but we’re up for the challenge. We’re probably going to be limiting our menu in the near future, making it simpler for us and making it simpler for the guests. Everyone’s gonna have to evolve. I think that’s gonna be a big part of it,” Kaye said.

Adapting to changing times means making it simple for guests, while making it inexpensive as well, Kaye said.

“Everyone is worried about money right now. I can’t think of one person who isn’t price conscious so that’d be a big part of it.”

Pony Corral, another local chain, is also following the new rules, but they’re still allowing a select few to eat in their dining area. They have only three staff on at a time, half of what they usually have, and only seven visitors will be allowed inside.

“The whole place smells like bleach,” said Lawrence Isseld, manager at Pony Corral’s Grant Park location, with a laugh.

“If a table of two comes in, we’ll put them at one table and if another table comes in, we’ll put them at the other end of the restaurant. We’re just trying to keep people as far as possible.”

At Sals, Kaye said these changes will be difficult for their devoted, daily customers, but remaining open is necessary to give those that work in places such as hospitals and grocery stores an option to grab a bite before or after shifts.

“It’s a ton of people’s routine to come down here and they’re not going to understand why we’re not letting them in… It’s almost like in small towns where there’s one little coffee shop and everyone congregates there. I feel like every Sals is like that. Twenty or 30 per cent of our morning business is the same guys and girls who sit in the same chair. They come in and this is their community,” Kaye said.

“As a company, that’s one of the things we’ve been fighting with is do we shut the dining rooms down sooner? But we’ve had a lot of these people really begging and asking us to stay open. It’s a balancing act I think everyone’s been talking about. We want to be there and we need to keep the doors open as long as we can.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31