'Groundhog Day': Local restaurant owners express frustration at the new round of restrictions

“2022 seems like 2020 part 2. There couldn’t have been a more detrimental beginning to the new year,” Nick Pontikis, owner of Thanasis Greek Restaurant reacts to the new round of COVID-19 restrictions.

On Monday, the Ford government announced indoor dining at restaurants, bars and other food establishment will close on Jan.5 for at least 21 days.

“It’s very sad and ridiculous that it’s come to this for the fifth or sixth time in less than two years,” says Owner of Souq Medditerean Restaurant, Ghasan Bassiso.

Although the ever-changing rules may have become the norm, those in the local restaurant industry say this shut down feels different.

“We are implementing vaccine passports and now we have the booster shot,” says Bassiso. “What’s the end game if we are still going to go back into lockdown?”

“Takeout only is not good at all,” says Mike Jabbour, Owner of Baker’s Bar and Grill. “I lose 80 to 90 per cent of my business.”Mike Jabbour, Owner of Baker’s Bar and Grill, Jan. 3, 2022. (Sijia Liu / CTV News)Instructed to close their dining rooms with only two days notice, some establishments are scrambling to find good use of the extra food supply they ordered weeks in advance.

Basisso says, “The inconsistency has been happening for far too long. Whenever anything is announced we barely get any time to react or plan ahead.”

Premier Doug Ford says the new restrictions are needed to address the rapid spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, but Restaurants Canada believes the data doesn’t match up.

“The data that we have been able to find shows that we are not a transmission site. People aren’t getting it in restaurants,” says James Rilett, vice present of Restaurant Canada’s central region.

To make matters worse, the closures are coming at a time when restaurants are adjusting to the recent $15/hour minimum wage increase.

“The two and a half dollar pay raise forces me to raise prices and it’s going to lead to less staff,” says Pontikis.

At this point, some local business are struggling to see, more than ever, how they will make it out of the pandemic.

“I don’t want to make money, I just want to keep my business for another few years,” says Jabbour. “The way I see it now, there is no future. I can lose my business anytime if we’re going to keep shutting down.”