Hard-hit businesses in Nova Scotia are looking forward to getting back to normal.
The food and hospitality sectors are among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with repeated lockdowns stopping operations and putting staff off work.
Many small businesses failed, many more are in bad shape, held up only by pandemic aid from the federal and provincial governments.
With the end of restrictions Monday, some are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Brian Doherty, owner of the Old Triangle Irish Alehouse in downtown Halifax, says this summer season is critical.
“I am optimistic for the industry,” he says. “Summer is ahead for us and traditionally, with a lot of the outdoor patios, business is good.”
He says the restaurant, entertainment, and hospitality industries are in a constant ebb and flow, building up reserves in summer, when people are usually spending more money, to get through the, usually lower-earning, winter.
Doherty says a disruption at the wrong point in that cycle creates ripple effects throughout the whole year.
“With all the shutdowns and all the closures, and all the uncertainty, we weren’t able to build up that reserve in the summertime,” he says. “The past few winters have been tremendously challenging, and the whole industry is, quite frankly, very fragile at the moment.”
He says this summer can really turn things around. A good season now would set them up until next summer.
Doherty says the restaurant industry has become experts in keeping customers safe, and he expects they’ll be able to keep that up, even now that restrictions have ended.
He says he’s optimistic we’ll be able to return to some semblance of normalcy.
