‘Tough road’ ahead for many restaurants amid ending COVID rules: Nova Scotia association

Even though the province will drop all COVID restrictions later in March, the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia’s president says it could take three years to recover.

CITYnews halifax \ Chris Stoodley

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Even though Nova Scotia is set to drop all COVID-19 restrictions later in March, the president of the province’s restaurant association thinks some owners will face extreme challenges.

“I think a lot of people have underestimated how challenging it has been,” the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia’s Gordon Stewart said. “But a lot are still underestimating what a long hill they have to climb.”

Stewart told The Todd Veinotte Show that it could take three years for several restaurant owners to recover and see a return to pre-pandemic sales.

He added that some restaurateurs will likely have to raise their prices by 8 to 10 per cent to recuperate the profits they lost and cover the costs of their rising debt.

For some restaurant owners, costs for necessities such as maintenance, rent and wages have piled up over the past couple of years. When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, many restaurants were able to take advantage of government grants to offset those costs.

“Now, we have to generate 100 per cent of that revenue by ourselves,” Stewart said, adding that the accumulated debt across Nova Scotia’s restaurant industry is around $21 million.

As restaurant owners attempt to pay off their debts, Stewart said it’ll be difficult for many due to lower sales compared to pre-pandemic levels as well as a labour shortage.

He said that means some restaurants won’t be able to return to full capacity and that “it’s going to be a tough road.”

Once COVID-19 restrictions end in Nova Scotia, there will also be a fine balance to pricing dishes that restaurant owners will have to master.

Stewart said many restaurateurs avoided raising their prices during the COVID-19 pandemic because they wanted to still retain business and remain competitive. But the rising cost of food products isn’t something restaurant owners can avoid.

On top of that, the end of all COVID-19 restrictions isn’t a change that’s entirely positive at this stage in the pandemic.

“Certainly by the end of the restrictions, which will come later this month, I think that should open up the field a little bit more,” Stewart said. “We’ve had some challenges. Obviously, there were a lot of people who wouldn’t come into restaurants because we’re asking for POV (proof of vaccine); now, there are people who won’t come into restaurants because we’re not asking POV.

“That’ll take a while to settle, but that’s just part of the road bumps that we’re going to go through in this industry.”

Going forward, Stewart said many people in the industry are afraid of another lockdown.

“The greatest fear, of course, is that we’re going to get hit with another surprise like the Omicron virus — and that could happen,” he said. “But if it did happen, and things were implemented, we would definitely see a major downfall in our industry.

“Most people could never survive another closure.”