Murphy Group Lays Off 400, Other Restaurants Close Across Maritimes
More restaurants have had to close their doors in the Maritimes due to Coronavirus. Among them is Gahan House, whose parent company Murphy Hospitality Group has temporarily laid off approximately 400 of its foodservice employees in the Maritimes to “cooperate” with public health recommendations.
“We’ve seen that part of this whole issue of controlling the virus was how the restaurants were playing a part in it. It came to the decision that we want to be part of the solution, and basically we’re closing our restaurants now from 5 o’clock this evening until further notice,” president and CEO Kevin Murphy told Huddle on Tuesday.
“It’s everything we operate in the foodservice business.”
The company owns five Gahan House pubs in Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton, Halifax and Charlottetown.
It also owns 13 other foodservice brands, including a catering service. Its Halifax restaurants include Pickford & Black, Barrington Steakhouse & Oyster Bar, and Grounded Coffee Bar.
Only select locations in Charlottetown will offer pick-up and delivery, while the company could potentially offer similar services from one location in Halifax, Murphy said.
“Where we hadn’t done delivery before in certain markets, we’re not offering it.”
The closure also affects The Hotel on Pownal and the PEI Brewing Company Beer Station in Charlottetown, while other brewery locations will see some restricted hours and offerings.
“Right now we’ve effectively laid off all our staff impacted in the restaurants, effective today, temporarily,” Murphy said. “We’re working with them through the government programs to ensure that first of all, they’re on EI, and second, that we find some programs that the government is proposing that will enable them to recoup some of the financial losses they’re going to be incurring.”
He said the company plans to hire “every one” of the staff back “as quickly as we can.”
Other Restaurants Also Close Doors
New Brunswickers are losing more than Gahan House as some of the province’s top culinary offerings announced temporary or partial closures.
11th Mile in Fredericton said on Monday it was planning to offer delivery and take-out, but decided Tuesday to close the whole restaurant for at least two weeks.
“It just sort of seems that maybe it wasn’t a big enough step,” said Jennie Wilson, who co-owns the restaurant with her chef husband Peter Tompkins. “We decided to just stop the whole thing and hopefully encourage people to do the same.”
She said even fulfilling takeout orders will require them to buy food out in public or getting people to deliver to them.
“We’re not infectious disease specialists, right? We know how to prepare food safely and how to keep a restaurant sanitized in a normal setting. But I don’t feel confident that we know enough about this virus and there’s really no way to have people in a restaurant and be six-feet apart,” she said.
All nine of 11th Mile’s staff, which includes four full-timers, have been temporarily laid off. They’ve just had their two-week pay, though, and EI is expected “to kick in immediately,” Wilson said, adding all staff will be retained when the business reopens.
“We know financially right now they’re taken care of. They know if rent, food, necessities are a problem to come to us,” she said. “We have two weeks now before another pay. So we’re waiting to hear what the government’s going to do, what the plan is. We assume there’s going to be a plan.”
As restaurants expect closures to happen sooner or later, Wilson and Tompkins decided to close sooner than later.
“It seems like the faster we shut it down, and if we all respond appropriately as a group, then that gives all of us chance of getting back to normal life as soon as we can,” she said. “Why wait and potentially be feeding the problem?”
Moncton-based Clos, which on Monday morning told Huddle it plans to stay open, has also decided to close its dining room and move to take-out only service.
“Our Clos team has made the difficult decision to close our dining room at this time. Chef Jon and team will be focusing on creating innovative quality take out meals and we will do our best to accommodate allergies. We appreciate your ongoing support,” the restaurant said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
Les Brumes Du Coude also temporarily closed it’s dining room as of Monday, though it will offer to-go meals.
“This has been a difficult decision, but we have to adapt our business in order to weather the current situation: the COVID-19 crisis, the absence of clients and the already thin margins of a restaurant,” the restaurant said in a Facebook post. “We are not the only ones struggling at this point so if you love the small businesses in your community, please keep supporting them. Every dollar helps.”