One local restaurant operator is taking their extended closure in stride.
Hamilton restaurants and bars will not be able to open their patios this weekend after the city was held back, along with the GTA, Niagara and Haldimand-Norfolk from moving into stage two of the province’s COVID-19 reopening plan.
Jason Cassis, co-founder of Equal Parts Hospitality, says they’re disappointed but have to accept the provincial government’s “crawl to walk to run” approach.
Cassis says he hopes to get the green light sooner than later, noting that “we’re all restless and we’re all feisty”, and will be ready to welcome customers within physical distancing guidelines.
He also hopes to benefit from the creation of an outdoor dining district on King William Street, within Hamilton’s downtown core, where two of his businesses are located.
City council recently approved such districts as a temporary measure during COVID-19, giving restaurants a chance to occupy extra communal space outside of their establishments.
Cassis believes those spaces will be a rousing success this summer in Hamilton, saying if he had to choose between sitting inside or outside in July or August, “I think I would choose outside given that the virus is still kicking around a bit.”
Ward 2 Coun. Jason Farr recently introduced the motion to allow outdoor dining districts, saying Hamilton’s restaurant sector has been devastated by the pandemic.
Farr sais “We want to get as many of these 18,000 restaurant workers back to work as soon as possible, and expanding the footprints is the way to do that,”
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