Wave of cancellations in restaurants: “This is a really big disaster”

Shockwave in restaurants during the week leading up to Christmas: The capacity of public spaces – including restaurants and bars – will be reduced by 50% from Monday due to the spread of the Omicron variant. For many restaurants, this news can cause big food and financial losses.

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Francis Rodriguez, owner of PEAK Hospitality, which owns five restaurants in Greater Montreal, has estimated a financial loss of $ 50,000 over the past few days.

Less than 400 people called on Wednesday and Thursday to cancel a restaurant in Magia, one of the restaurants in Langueil.

“This is a really big disaster”, describes a person who stocks with food and alcohol in anticipation of very large traffic.

Next they focus on government advertising. But one thing is for sure, if the dining rooms are closed in the coming weeks he will no longer want to embark on the adventure of take-out meals.

“Financially, it’s a loss to the employer, but morally to the employees, it’s worse,” he said.

In the “bad news” suite, Prime Minister Franois Legalt announced that he was limiting the capacity of public spaces to 50%, including restaurants, bars, casinos, taverns and microbreweries. Table capacity is limited to 10 people – or residents of three residences – and dancing and concert are prohibited.