Mayor John Tory's Toronto

[Jonny5]

Here's what dining in Toronto will look like once restaurants are allowed to reopen

Friday, June 5, 2020

Here's what dining in Toronto will look like once restaurants are allowed to reopen

The City of Toronto has released guidelines for restaurants that provide the clearest picture so far of how dining will look once the province allows establishments to reopen for dine-in service.

toronto.ctvnews.ca

Too many regulations to bother with. Most won't even open. Arrows instructing you how to walk around? I can't wait for the social media outrage at a restaurant that has customers walking directionally in the wrong 'lane'.
"Operators can require customers to wear masks, except when eating." ?

Perhaps the chains can manage this. I guess people who want to go to Swiss Chalet or Jack Astor's really badly can do so, but I don't see any independent restaurant pulling this off. They will also get killed by reservation no-shows. This has already been a thing in the US markets that have re-opened where small restaurants have to operate on a reservation basis, and one no-show table can kill off 5-10% of their revenue for the day because they can only seat six or seven tables with two sittings a night, and there won't be any walk-in customers waiting as replacements when you advertise "reservations only". Perhaps some restaurants will make a go of it only booking tables for two. They won't want groups larger than that as managing them to the rules becomes impossible.

 

[gabe]

Here's what dining in Toronto will look like once restaurants are allowed to reopen

Friday, June 5, 2020

Here's what dining in Toronto will look like once restaurants are allowed to reopen

The City of Toronto has released guidelines for restaurants that provide the clearest picture so far of how dining will look once the province allows establishments to reopen for dine-in service.

toronto.ctvnews.ca

As well, food establishments will not be allowed to have more than 50 per cent of their rated capacity.

Is the city going to pay 50 per cent of the bills? I have worked in restaurants that ran at 50% capacity, they all went out of business! it's financially impossible to operate a restaurant at half the rated capacity in a expensive city like Toronto, even if it's only for a month or two. That's long enough to kill off most independent restaurants. Even the big chains out in the burbs that have 40 thousand to 50 thousand a month rents are going to take a big financial hit running at 50% capacity.

 

[Jasmine18]

Thing is there is demand of some sort as a lot of take out places are doing crazy business right now.

 

[gabe]

Thing is there is demand of some sort as a lot of take out places are doing crazy business right now.

Take out places that have cheap food like my local Chinese restaurants, are doing well. But I know a number of restaurant owners. The take out model is not sustainable for the type of restaurant they have. They need to fill the dinning rooms at dinner, they need the office crowd at lunch, they need the Friday and Saturday night drinkers. That's where the money is.

 

[AlbertC]

The situation for restaurants hasn't been too positive in Vancouver after BC had their reopening a couple weeks ago:

Two weeks after reopening, some Vancouver restaurants nearly empty

A Vancouver restaurateur has a dire prediction for the future of the restaurant industry and is concerned many places will go under during the pandemic.

bc.ctvnews.ca

 

[Bayer]

A couple of weeks ago, I had food delivered from Miku. It was great, and so was the bottle of saké. But Jen Agg was absolutely correct when she said in an interview that what keeps you going to a restaurant is not so much the food but mostly the atmosphere, the music, the service... and I decided that I am not really interested in spending another $150 for a restaurant meal for 2 that I have to plate myself, in my own apartment, from plastic containers. Take out works for cheap food, but not for the higher end. And a sparsely-occupied room, with plexiglas, arrows on the floor or transparent lampshades on top of our heads would kill the atmosphere that we actually want to pay for - and according to some research, all those might not be very effective to prevent transmission anyway in an enclosed space where you spend several hours. I'm very pessimistic about the restaurant business until a vaccine or a treatment is developed.

 

[AlbertC]

I was watching this TV segment about restaurants that have reopened in other provinces. For many if not all of them, it was already inevitable that they'll be losing money in these early stages of reopening. It was all a matter of weathering the storm and seeing how close to break even they can get until measures are relaxed and they can resume regular operations. But the wait until that can happen is definitely daunting. The unfortunate reality is that many restaurants are not going to survive in the coming months, as they do not have the resources and budget to hang on until when a vaccine is developed.

 

[Northern Light]

I find the idea of having to log your customers exceptionally bizarre, intrusive, costly.

Grocery stores are not tracking every single person walking through their doors, neither is Canadian Tire etc etc.

Why should little mom and pop businesses endure this?

If the social distancing rules are in place there is no reason an outbreak should occur.

If one does, it can be managed the same way as we would anywhere else.

You can publicize the location/time through media; and trace those who used credit/debit (likely a majority) in any event.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I find the idea of having to log your customers exceptionally bizarre, intrusive, costly.

Grocery stores are not tracking every single person walking through their doors, neither is Canadian Tire etc etc.

Why should little mom and pop businesses endure this?

If the social distancing rules are in place there is no reason an outbreak should occur.

If one does, it can be managed the same way as we would anywhere else.

You can publicize the location/time through media; and trace those who used credit/debit (likely a majority) in any event.

If they use a credit or debit card, they would be "logged" already.

 

[Northern Light]

If they use a credit or debit card, they would be "logged" already.

Right, but the Toronto Public Health guidelines, to my understanding, required having a trackable list of every patron (including any who pay cash); and requiring the restaurant itself to maintain records of who attended.

That's cumbersome, and adds little value.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Right, but the Toronto Public Health guidelines, to my understanding, required having a trackable list of every patron (including any who pay cash); and requiring the restaurant itself to maintain records of who attended.

That's cumbersome, and adds little value.

If you make reservations at a restaurant, they can add the needed extra information.

 

[picard102]

So restaurants are reservation only then. I don't see the big issue.
Not sure why you'd show up to any restaurant without one considering the limitations in place anyways.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Right, but the Toronto Public Health guidelines, to my understanding, required having a trackable list of every patron (including any who pay cash); and requiring the restaurant itself to maintain records of who attended.

That's cumbersome, and adds little value.

They can try logging me as I pay cash. Get the camera footage out and start guessing. I'm all over police databases so I'm sure they can apply some creepy AI bollocks to match face to whatever address I was at four years ago.

Looks like I'll be spending as much time as possible the hell out of this place from now til November. I think that was the plan anyway before this logging creepiness.

 

[Videodrome]

Toronto councillor Michael Ford tests positive for COVID-19

Toronto City Councillor and Premier Doug Ford’s nephew Michael Ford says he has tested positive for COVID-19. Ford released a statement saying he was informed of his positive test result on Tuesday morning. He is currently the Ward 1 councillor for Etobicoke North. “This morning I was made aware...

toronto.citynews.ca

Well now.

 

[AlbertC]

TORONTO -- Hundreds of people have signed an online petition asking the city to rename Dundas Street in Toronto due to its namesake's involvement in opposing the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in the 18th century.

Toronto resident Andrew Lochhead created the petition on Tuesday as a series of protests against police brutality and anti-Black racism that have been ongoing since the murder of George Floyd continued to unfold in cities around the world.

The petition states that Scottish politician Henry Dundas, whom Dundas Street is named for, has a “highly problematic” legacy which saw him participate in obstructing the abolition of slavery until the end of his career in 1806.

Hundreds sign petition demanding Toronto rename major street due to racism concerns

Hundreds of people have signed an online petition asking Toronto to rename one of its major streets due to its namesake’s involvement in opposing the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in the 18th century.

toronto.ctvnews.ca