72 Halifax Restaurants Opened During The Pandemic, But Many Don’t Qualify For Support
HALIFAX – Zoey Boosey knew she was taking a risk when she opened her new Asian cuisine restaurant, Saké Restaurant & Bar, in Halifax during the pandemic. But Boosey, who moved from England to Halifax four years ago, had been a restaurateur and entrepreneur for most of her adult life, so she took the chance and opened in late October.
Boosey also started planning the opening in February, a month before the pandemic shutdowns first began. So, there was an element of bad luck and bad timing for the opening of Saké. But Boosey was confident her restaurant could succeed because of the strong support for local businesses in the city.
“I feel like it’s really important to keep the economy going,” said Boosey. “Things are always going to come back to normal at some point. People in Halifax and Nova Scotia are so supportive of local.”
But Boosey couldn’t predict that, just four weeks after her grand opening, Halifax would go into a second lockdown. On November 24, Boosey announced Saké would be completely shut down until the health restrictions were lifted. The temporary shutdown has affected 40 employees.
To make matters worse, Boosey found out there was little help available to her through the major government support programs, such as CEBA loans and rent subsidies, because she is a brand new business.
“I wasn’t particularly worried… I didn’t research it because I knew that existing businesses were getting help. But I was very shocked to find out there was, like, nothing – literally nothing,” said Boosey.
“I’m happy to follow the procedures and rules. I just wish they would extend the help to people that have gone out there and are trying to keep the economy going.”
For CEBA loans, the federal government requires businesses to have been open by March 1, 2020 to qualify. In order to access the new rent subsidy program, Boosey would have had to have her business number registered by September 27, 2020. As for the wage subsidy, a business is required to have a CRA payroll account as of March 15, 2020. None of these dates help Boosey.
Boosey invested a lot of money into the opening of Saké. The décor alone cost her 300,000, and she also did a lot of advertising on social media leading up to the grand opening. And, even with staff temporarily laid off, she is facing $22,000 to $25,000 per month in fixed costs. Since closing on November 24, Boosey was hopeful the programs would open up more to new businesses, but she is disappointed that hasn’t happened yet.
“I did think that once we were shut down by government order, then they would readjust the schemes so it would help newer businesses … that hasn’t happened as of yet,” said Boosey.
Boosey has caught a bit of a break in the short term for one major expense. Even though she opened Saké in late October, rent doesn’t kick in until January. But after that, it will be hard to make ends meet without government help.
She has had to dig into her personal bank accounts to pay the bills since closing. She knows doing this will not be sustainable for very long.
“I have to use all my savings, so we don’t have very long at all,” she said.
Boosey had even sent a letter addressed to Premier McNeil and other elected officials with her concerns, hoping it would cause the government to create something for new businesses. She has not received a response yet.
The experienced restaurateur is hoping she can survive through the lockdown. She has big plans as a businessperson in Halifax. In fact, she is planning to purchase another restaurant in downtown Halifax soon. She hopes to keep opening more restaurants if all goes well.
Saké is not the only restaurant to open during the pandemic – far from it. Gordon Stewart of the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia says 72 restaurants have opened in the HRM since the pandemic beg
“In all fairness, to tell you the truth, I was actually stunned when I saw the numbers,” said Stewart. “I couldn’t believe it.”
“They’re very entrepreneurial. They felt there’s a niche in the market they could put themselves in.”
One may think this is a sign that Halifax restaurants are weathering the storm of the pandemic, but Stewart said the exact opposite is happening. In the city, restaurants are operating at 30 to 40 percent of sales compared to last year he said.
Stewart firmly believes that support programs, both provincially and federally, should be available to new businesses.
“The assistance programs, either provincially or federally, need to be available for new entrants in the marketplace,” said Stewart. “They shouldn’t be penalized because they’re new. They’re going through the same issues as everybody else.”
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The issue of lack of support for new businesses was recently brought up to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland during a Zoom Q and A with the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.
Patrick Sullivan, CEO of the Chamber, asked if there will be more support for new businesses like restaurants that have opened during the pandemic.
Freeland responded that this is an issue she has given a lot of thought about. She said the issue is “tricky” because opening up money for new businesses could lead to the programs being abused.