The New Normal: Dining out comes outdoors, with reservations only

The pandemic changed my thinking about a lot of things.... My husband used to work seven days a week and we’re never going to do that again,' downtown's The Goulash House owner says

Newmarkettoday.ca
June 15, 2020

As we embrace each phase of the COVID-19 pandemic reopening, NewmarketToday will be exploring the latest developments in our "new normal" for business, shopping, dining, entertainment, culture, recreation and (hopefully) socializing in a regular series of articles.

A recent study showed that what Canadians have missed most during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown was dining out -- but when restaurants are allowed to reopen, it will be with a different experience entirely.

While food establishments in about two-thirds of Ontario’s public health regions with low COVID-19 cases can now welcome patrons for patio dining under strict conditions, Newmarket and York Region will have to wait a little longer.

The green light to move onto stage 2 in the province’s three-stage COVID-19 recovery plan will be reviewed weekly by public health officials.

So, depending on York Region’s coronavirus situation next Monday, all signals could be go -- or not.

With restaurants permitted to offer only takeout and delivery since mid-March, some remained shuttered for a time as staff was laid off and menus retooled for takeout, including Lobo Iberico, Lil’ Brew Hops and HopBop Noodle Shop.

Now that a partial reopening of dining out is on the horizon, local restaurateurs are trying to muster every ounce of optimism as they reimagine former business models that don’t square in a pandemic world.

The brave new world of dining comes with public health measures that include a 50 per cent reduction in capacity to ensure physical distancing, dine by reservation only, minimized contact between staff and customers, the use of disposable paper menus, plexiglass barriers, and more.

As Newmarket’s own Cheers-style pub, Tom & Jerry’s owner Mike Dinner said the swift shutdown of eateries felt like going “100 miles an hour to zero in 24 hours”.

“We were shut down the day before the busiest day of the year, St. Paddy’s Day, other than Super Bowl,” Dinner said.

It has been tough adjusting to the new normal of simply running a takeout service when a staple of Tom & Jerry’s business found sports teams filling up the tables and a loyal base of regulars known by name who called the Yonge Street local a second home.

“Most of my staff and customers have been with us for so long,” Dinner said. “They’ve built relationships.”

The doors at Tom & Jerry’s reopened a few weeks ago for takeout, and loyal patrons have returned to preorder and pick up favourites, including wings and ribs that the establishment has been noted for since it opened in 1995.

“It’s starting to show some benefits but we’re still down about 70 per cent of the business we were doing before,” said Dinner, noting a surge in healthy food orders such as wraps and salads. 

Dinner said he thought the restaurant was out of the woods in January 2020 as the three-year-long construction was finally complete for the Yonge Street rapidway that runs from Savage Road/Sawmill Valley to Davis Drive.

“We were hit with a double whammy, it’s not just COVID,” he said. “The last three years of construction were horrific for typical traffic, and typical customers. So we finally get that sorted out, see normal increases back in the business, and then COVID.”

“COVID is such a terrible situation that caught everyone off guard, and it’s incredible how it affects people mentally, there’s a great deal of anguish and unknowns,” Dinner said. “Even though the government is certainly helping at the moment, it’s not over yet.”

A Restaurants Canada survey released in May 2020 found that seven out of 10 respondents said they are either very or extremely worried that their business won’t have enough cash flow to pay vendors, rent, and other expenses over the next three months.

It’s a pivotal moment for proprietors and patrons alike, and Dinner wonders just how the future will unwind.

“What type of stress is the pandemic going to put on people’s finances, savings, and retirements?” he said. “There’s a great deal of unknown and it’s just day-to-day.”

Meanwhile, four months to the day of opening the 5,000-square-foot Metropolis Mercantile and Cafe in Newmarket’s historic downtown, owner Karla Wilson was forced to shut down normal operations.

“It was pretty upsetting, but we just rolled with it and took the time to continue to enhance what we already had,” said Wilson of putting the shop’s entire offerings online, including specialty coffee and fresh-baked goods, vintage collectables, locally hand-crafted merchandise, and more.

Metropolis’s staff were temporarily laid off for about six weeks, but they’ve been brought back and Wilson is hiring, thanks to some government restrictions that were lifted mid-May to permit curbside pickup and now in-store purchases with public health measures in place such as physical distancing.

The slow and gradual restart of many business activities means that patrons can not yet sit down at an establishment in Newmarket and York Region.

But when that time comes, Wilson will be ready. 

“We’ve just received our liquor licence but haven’t served any beer or wine yet because we have to wait until people are allowed to sit,” she said, adding that the Metropolis patio that overlooks the Riverwalk Commons area can safely seat 20 people with physical distancing.

“So, the patio situation is really important for us,” said Wilson. “We’re good to go, once the province and the town gives the go-ahead.”

The new cafe and retail store is seeing more foot traffic since restrictions were loosened several weeks ago, especially on weekends, but revenue is down about 70 per cent since the pandemic hit, Wilson said.

Staff continue to bake fresh food items from the shop’s large kitchen, and an ice cream station is planned for this summer.

The new business owner keeps the shop’s double doors open, so people have extra space to come and go. The cash and bakery areas have also been glassed in to keep everyone safe.

“Nobody actually gets very close because we have a larger space,” she said.

Still, some customers continue to order online and pick up curbside as they stay at home and keep their distance to help stop the spread of the virus.

The Town of Newmarket this week approved a town-wide patio expansion program and pedestrian zones on Main Street to help local merchants and restaurateurs who have been hit hard by COVID-19.

The program includes measures like waiving patio licensing fees, flexibility around hours of operation, and encroachment on town-owned space.

It’s set up to be an easy, no-fee process where a restaurant anywhere in Newmarket can submit their idea to the town to establish or expand an existing patio for the patio season of 2020.

For businesses in plazas, landlords need to give their blessing to use parking spaces or sidewalks.

“We’re looking to try to facilitate this opportunity because all retail is being hit hard, but restaurants particularly hard, and this is a way we can support that industry, and cafes and possibly retail outlets, we’re open to any application,” Mayor John Taylor said.

“Hopefully we can help them find a solution that will improve their bottom line, which is what it’s all about, helping them generate revenue so they can survive this very difficult time,” he said.

Suggestions from some citizens about temporarily closed sections of downtown for pedestrians only is not on the table during a pandemic for public health and safety reasons primarily, Taylor added.

“We are not considering street closures, we’re very concerned about creating a destination particularly with regional approaches to reopening,” Taylor said. “Like if York Region were to open before Toronto that could create a pedestrian attraction that could see at peak times on the weekend, in good weather, far too many people to allow for social distancing and we don’t want to encourage that.”

“If and when that were to ever happen, it’s less beneficial to some businesses than others, and with so many businesses feeling so economically challenged and fragile right now, we don’t want to be in the position of making things more difficult for some that feel like they’re barely hanging on,” he added.

The idea of opening up Main Street to pedestrians is an idea about which Wilson, for example, has mixed feelings.

“It would be nice for the public, but it depends how many people are drawn out and how physical distancing will be handled,” she said. “But we can use all the help we can get.”

While reopening presents physical challenges to keep everyone safe, for The Goulash House owner Judit Szamosszegi, one aspect of the new normal that’s forbidden for the foreseeable future is the part she loves most about her job.

“I would get a lot of hugs from my customers, so I’m really going to miss that,” Szamosszegi said. “I would stop by the table and ask how the food is and people jumped up and hugged me. That was part of the service and experience. It’s not going to be the same, I loved that part.”

For nine years, Szamosszegi and husband, George have worked around the clock running a deli first at the Main Street location in 2011, followed by the dine-in Hungarian restaurant a year later, and the Unika Lounge Bar on Botsford Street that remains closed under pandemic rules.

The couple were forced to lay off their staff, and offer takeout and delivery on the reduced hours of Thursday to Sunday. Loyal patrons’ support during the tough economic times caused by the pandemic are helping the Szamosszegi family keep their heads above water.

To generate a little extra income, Szamosszegi is offering some furniture for sale that she came into possession of, and is displaying the items in her empty storefront.

“I seriously have no idea what the new normal is going to be,” she said. “I know we’re going to be reservation-only, and I know we’re going to do everything we can to keep everybody safe.”

The downtime brought about by the near-lockdown of the community for several months changed Szamosszegi’s view of many things, including the importance of work-life balance.

“The silver lining is that my husband and I get three days off, that never happened before,” she said. “The pandemic changed my thinking about a lot of things. When we can open, we’re going to take it easier and not work so many hours. My husband used to work seven days a week and we’re never going to do that again.”

When restaurant patios are allowed in Newmarket, Szamosszegi said she will consider putting a few tables out front on Main, although a small patio she once had on a side street around the corner didn’t work well for her restaurant.

“I am sorry for all the businesses that had to close, we’re one of the lucky ones, and we still have a job,” Szamosszegi said. “And we’re not aiming at huge profits these days, restaurants are not making as much profit as people think, but we’re still paying our bills and I never had to ask for help.”

As for the future, Szamosszegi doesn’t think people will flood into restaurant dining rooms like they used to. She believes the new normal way of doing business and dining out will be more balanced and calm.

“I love the customers very much and I’ve noticed how much more grateful, friendly and kind people are since COVID,” she said. “They thank me for being open for takeout, and I’m like, wow, the nicenessness is overwhelming. People are just really, really nice. That’s another silver lining of COVID, people are more considerate, appreciate things more.”

But the affable restaurateur cautions that dining out isn’t just about the food, it’s about the atmosphere, and interacting with the server and owner.

“If you have to keep six feet away, and wear masks, you won’t see a smile, this is going to be tough at the beginning. It’s going to be difficult not being able to chat, and make a joke or two,” she said.

The emotional toll on patrons and staff is also top of mind for The Sociable Pub owner, Deepak Sood, who says his customers are used to upscale dining and dancing the night away to live bands.

And his staff was used to earning good tips since Sood opened the pub last March. They have since been laid off temporarily as the pub moved to a takeout model.

Imagining how to reopen the Yonge Street pub that’s drenched in history and tucked away behind nearby commercial businesses is a little complicated now, he said.

The two-storey, early 1800s Gothic-style farm house known as Maple Gables was first owned by Timothy Rogers, a Quaker from Vermont who settled in Newmarket to avoid getting caught up in the American Revolution.

“The pub concept is gone for about two to three years,” Sood said. “We used to have live bands here, and people dancing here, and lots of fun and frolic, that environment is gone.”

Sood is trying to stay positive and knows he must come up with a new normal way of doing business, but the realities when considering a restart are daunting, he said.

For example, a $7,000 investment in the pub’s luxurious faux leather, embossed menus have to be scrapped as part of strict public health measures. Paper flyer-type menus must now be used and discarded after each customer.

Since being closed, brand-new kegs of beer that had just arrived at the pub are now flat, food stocks need to be replenished, staff need to be hired, including Sood’s Red-Seal certified chef, and the costs keep mounting.

An estimate of $800 to trim trees over the patio, $40,000 per year for billboard advertising signage on Davis Drive, and a cash outlay on pandemic essentials like masks, gloves, sanitizer, and plexiglass shields at the bar leaves Sood wondering how he might recover the expenses at a time when people are still concerned about the virus and exposures.

“The irony is that officials are saying you just need to do this and do that, but practically, it doesn’t work like that,” he said.

Also, given the square footage of Sociable Pub’s patio, the current 10 tables would be reduced to four.

“So, you open at 40 per cent with expenses at 100 per cent, and there will be fewer customers because they’re scared of the virus,” he said.

Much more support is needed from governments, Sood said, if the industry is to survive.

The industry association Restaurants Canada also found in a recent survey that 10 per cent of restaurants have closed down, another 18 per cent expect to close permanently within the next month and, at the end of March 2020, lower revenues and physical distancing measures resulted in 53 per cent of respondents closing down their entire operation temporarily.