After a brief period of lockdown, Ontario restaurants can reopen for indoor dining once again starting on January 31. Eateries in the province were ordered to shut their dining rooms from January 5 for a minimum period of 26 days. That left outdoor dining, takeout, drive-thru, and delivery as the only operations still on the […]
The COVID-19 wheel keeps spinning and indoor dining is now greatly reduced or off the table entirely in numerous provinces across Canada. Earlier in the pandemic, outdoor dining was hailed as a saviour by many restaurants, and that applies to winter patios, not just warm-weather ones. The trouble, of course, is making that a comfortable […]
Following earlier moves by Quebec and Ontario since late December, New Brunswick has become the latest province to ban indoor dining amid the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Starting January 14, dining rooms across New Brunswick will be closed as just one of numerous new restrictions introduced. The provincial government announced on January 13 that all […]
Updated January 10, 2021 Restaurant owners and staff would be forgiven for feeling transported back to 2020 in the early days of 2022, as indoor dining shuts down again in some areas in response to the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Quebec blinked first, and Ontario soon followed. The closures are an attempt to stifle the […]
Kingston, Ont. has introduced a week’s worth of new restrictions aimed at curbing the city’s alarming COVID-19 infection rate. The city is limiting gatherings to a maximum of five people and enforcing new measures on restaurants in response to the spread of the Omicron variant. Introduced with just hours’ notice and effective December 13 at […]
Restaurant owners have some serious and understandable concerns over the rise of the Omicron COVID-19 variant and the effect it may have on their business. Infection rates and hospitalizations are climbing again across Canada and the U.S. due to both the Delta variant that has been present for the last few months and the newer […]
Ontario restaurants have no COVID-19-related indoor capacity restrictions to adhere to for the first time in over a year as of Monday, October 25. Restaurants, bars, and other food and drink establishments, as well as many other settings where patrons/customers are required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, are now free to operate without capacity limits. […]
Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced on October 21 that the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) will expire on October 23, and will be replaced the next day by targeted benefits including restaurant subsidies and programs to help individuals whose work is impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns. The Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit will provide […]
By David Hopkins The vaccine passport has now rolled out in Ontario, and with it comes increased uncertainty and complications for restaurant operators, who have already faced incessant turmoil and scrutiny over the past year and a half. While the details of the vaccine passport and its enforcement vary from province to province, the gist […]
The last 19 months have posed many of the sternest tests that foodservice has seen in recent memory — from tumbling sales in the spring and summer of 2020 as the pandemic gathered speed to the labour difficulties and rising food costs seen in recent months of 2021. The latest has been handling the introduction […]
