‘We’re going to be bankrupt’: Vaughan banquet halls racking up losses despite government support

Hospitality sector ‘disproportionately hit,’ Vaughan Chamber of Commerce president and CEO says

Yorkregion.com
October 19, 2020
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Despite government efforts and money roll out to help businesses stay afloat through the COVID-19 pandemic, some banquet halls are still reeling from the adverse shudders.

“We’re going to be bankrupt,” said Tony Fazari, head of Premier Place Banquet Hall.

Since March Fazari has continued to pay expenses. He decided that he won't be opening any events since there is a cap of 50 people, and when people do show up, they are much less, exacerbating his losses.

“How can I open up the 20, 25 people and take the risk,” Fazari said, adding how it’s hard to tell people that they can’t go to the bar to get drinks and that it’s the server’s responsibility to do so or how they can’t dance.

While the money received from the government has finished, “luckily my landlord helped me with the rent relief, but that's still a big chunk of the pay every month,” he added.

"We're still suffering," lamented Frank D'Arpino, general manager for another Vaughan-based banquet hall called Universal EventSpace.

"We're not even covering our expenses," D'Arpino added. "We want to save the company and continue to do business."

He questioned "how much longer" would they be able to "handle this."

"I am not sure," he added.  His salaried employees have already witnessed reduced hours and pay. "We have no business, and what are they going to do?"

To help these businesses, Brian Shifman, president and CEO of Vaughan Chamber of Commerce, urges the government to think outside the box such as extending patio season for restaurants where they can maybe fund their “retrofitting” their exterior with extra heaters so people can sit outside.

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Shifman specifically advises on how there needs to be “sector specific funding.”

“So chambers of commerce boards of trade, we've been saying that there needs to be sector specific funding and financial support or your what you're going to have as numerous companies will close with little prospect of reopening,” Shifman said, adding “every chief economist will tell you that the concern is always permanent job loss.”

He explained how there is a “differentiation between like temporary closure, which is extraordinarily hard and permanent job loss.”

“We're concerned with both,” he added. “So we want to see sector specific support, we've been calling for that for some time now.”

Shifman has specifically pinpointed how the hospitality and tourism sector has been “hit disproportionately hard,” since they are the ones that will “open last.”

“Tourism hospitality actually accounts for 81,000 jobs (in York Region). Also, the sector is 2 per cent of the Canadian economy, and it will be among the last open,” he said. So far, “their average hotel occupancy is 20 to 40 per cent right now, that's a real issue right.”

Tourism, a year-round industry, is Ontario’s 12th largest employer with over 390,000 in 2016 with more than 60 per cent of tourism workers in full-time positions.

“Unfortunately, the only programs that have been applicable to them by large, have been the wage subsidy, but if you have no employees.”

As for the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan, it was “an effective tool that has assisted hotels but it’s not enough.”

This is indeed what Fazari explained that the CEBA wasn’t enough.

While the wage subsidy program has been extended to the middle of 2021, Shifman said, “We want to see changes to the rent relief programs.”

He also explained how business “thrive on certainty,” dubbing that’s “imperative” for the government to communicate announcements such as reverting to Stage 2 or otherwise in a “clear manner” where this is an “adequate time to adapt.”

“The challenge is when you don't know what's coming next,” he said.