Several Halifax Area Restaurants Shut Down Due To Coronavirus
HALIFAX – Several Halifax are restaurants are shutting their doors because of the global coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, at least four places – Field Guide, Chkn Chop, Obladee Wine Bar, and the Canteen – publicly announced they were closing. On Tuesday morning, The Old Triangle Irish Alehouse, Stubborn Goat Gastropub and Split Crown Pub said they were closing too. All said it was due to concerns around COVID-19.
Chain Yard Cider is closing its taproom for food and drink service but will continue to sell cider from the retail store.
Doug Townsend, who co-owns of The Canteen with Renée Lavallée, a former Top Chef Canada contestant, said they made the decision to shut their doors primarily out of concern for their staff.
“We’re very well aware that we play a part in helping people mitigate exposure to one another… so we made a decision today to close our restaurant,” he said.
“The reality is we know that people are going to be staying closer to home, as they should, and one of our values is team first: we always look out for the safety of our team before anything. These guys shouldn’t have to be exposed to this. They don’t deserve it.”
On its Facebook page, Field Guide gave a similar reason for its “indefinite” closure.
“It’s time for us to close indefinitely in order to support our staff, guests, and community. Social Distancing is the next step in the effort to #flattenthecurve and we encourage everyone to stay home. We will miss you all!”
Chkn Chop posted to Instagram that it’s closing for a minimum of two weeks, while Obladee said it would shut its doors until “the end of March.”
“We feel it is in the best interests of our staff and the public to close until the end of March,” the restaurant said on its Facebook account. “These are unprecedented and difficult times. We sincerely appreciate your understanding while we take this time to do what we feel is right.”
Townsend said the decision for him and Lavallée was a difficult one, especially since concerns around coronavirus exploded within a few short days.
“Up until Saturday things were more or less the same as they would normally be at this time of year, and then things escalated that quickly,” he told Huddle.
He said he’s anxiously waiting to hear from the federal and provincial governments what kind of support will be given to small businesses like his forced to shut down in the wake of coronavirus’ spread.
“Now we’re just holding our breath waiting to see what if any support there will be from the government for small businesses such as ours,” he said. “Our sector, along with a few other sectors have been the ones that kind of get crushed the quickest with this.”
“We’re hoping that the government steps up.”
The Old Triangle Irish Alehouse also made a plea for the government to help out the industry.
“As a family, our grief at this is literally unimaginable and our thoughts are purely with our staff, many of whom have been with us for years, all of whom are now unemployed, as we are,” the restaurant posted on its Facebook page. “We urge the government to please act quickly to help to provide assistance to all workers in our industry who now face massive uncertainty and insecurity.”
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