Restauranteurs ready terrasses but wonder when dining rooms to open

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Like hundreds of restaurant owners across Montreal, Félix Tremblay was upbeat and busy Wednesday, helping workers set up his terrasse, prepping a new menu and trying to reach former employees.

“As I was listening to the press conference yesterday, the reservations were popping onto my phone,” said Tremblay, who co-owns La Prunelle Restaurant on Duluth Ave. E. “Wow! People are ready. They want to go out. And it’s about time.”

But like other restaurateurs who spoke to the Montreal Gazette Wednesday, Tremblay has a lot of questions about the staggered reopening announced Tuesday by Premier François Legault, the main one being: when will restaurants in Montreal be allowed to reopen inside?

Two things are clear: the government will lift the 9:30 p.m. curfew on Friday, May 28, and allow restaurant terrasses to open across the province the same day.

A maximum of two adults from two different households (with their minor children) or any number of diners from the same household will be permitted to sit together on a restaurant terrasse as of that date.

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After that, the rules will go by colour-coded alert zones. The government aims to have most red-alert regions go to orange by May 31, and indoor dining is allowed in orange zones, with the same seating restrictions as outlined above for terrasses. Most regions should be yellow by June 14, and in yellow zones indoor dining is permitted with any number of diners from two different households seated together. And when most regions go green, hopefully by June 28, a maximum of 10 people from different households can be seated together inside.

Tremblay said preparations are complicated by the short timeline to get up and running, and not knowing exactly when his inside dining room can reopen.

“Ten days is way too short” a lead time, he said. “Right now I’m running everywhere. We want the terrasse to be ready, we have to make a new menu, hiring staff, training them, and the confusion is there was no real answer about when the inside of the restaurants would be open. … I hope there will be more explanation on that.”

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He noted that finding employees, especially for kitchen work, on short notice is difficult.

“Working in a kitchen is a hard job. it’s not a lot of money. and a lot of workers were already sick of it. So they took this year to go back to school, or work in another industry,” said Félix Tremblay, who has to replace about half his kitchen staff.

A few blocks east at Joséphine, owner Jason Tremblay was getting his terrasse ready too.

“We know they are going by zones but we don’t know if or when Montreal will go to orange or yellow. … It’s really hard to say.”

Both owners were wondering whether they would have to request ID from clients to prove they are from the same residence.

“I don’t want to start carding clients,” said Jason Tremblay.

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Martin Vézina, spokesperson for the Quebec Restaurateurs Association, said he has been trying to clarify many of these points for his members, especially the question of when indoor dining will start.

“What (the government is) saying is that the majority of regions will turn to orange on May 31 and with turning to orange you can open up your dining room. Montreal is a candidate to go orange maybe on May 31 but it will depend on the number of cases and hospitalizations, et cetera, so the government doesn’t want to say out loud just yet (when indoor dining can start). If Montreal needs a few more days or maybe a week after May 31 (to go orange) they want to have this kind of flexibility.”

Vézina said restaurateurs are relieved that the government has planned a gradual re-opening with sanitary measures that will decrease as the public health situation improves. And the 10-day heads up is better than the 48 hours restaurants got last March when some regions opened up.

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“Mainly we were asking that we not have a cycle of reopening and re-closing. … It’s too costly for restaurant owners. We need … to be open all summer because that’s the best time of the year and that’s how restaurants survive through January and February.”

He said his understanding is that restaurant staff will be expected to check the ID of all the diners to verify that seating restrictions are respected. “It doesn’t have to be a drivers’ license, it could be a tax bill or a hydro bill.”

Clients will also have to give names and phone numbers to restaurant staff so that public health officials can contact them in case of an outbreak of COVID-19 at a restaurant.

He agreed that having to essentially card clients is not ideal for restaurateurs desperate for clients.

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“I agree it’s a tough situation, and we don’t like to play the police. We are not sure if that kind of sanitary guideline will be maintained after May 28. In fact, I have a long list of questions for which I am waiting for answers from government,” he said.

He expects customers will have to wear masks when they move around the restaurant, and servers will have to wear face masks and goggles or visors.  He is hoping the requirement to have a reservation to eat on a terrasse in orange and red zones will be dropped, as restaurants can manage spaced lineups outside their establishments, just as grocery stores and pharmacies have done.

The QRA estimates that 10-11 per cent of the province’s restaurants have closed permanently since the beginning of the pandemic. Montreal restaurant dining rooms have been closed since Oct. 1, 2020.

mlalonde@postmedia.com

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