Fiona ‘Kicking Us In The Nuts,’ Says Halifax Restaurant Owner
HALIFAX — The extreme winds and rainfall brought by Fiona disrupted the lives of everyone in Halifax this past weekend. But for many restaurant owners, the disruption couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Like other industries across Canada, the food service sector is still in recovery from the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. A recent report from Restaurants Canada shows the average restaurateur has taken on massive debt since 2020. On top of that, the federal government expects businesses to start paying back CEBA loans by 2023.
“You have Covid and now you got a hurricane that’s kicking us in the nuts,” said Bill Pratt, owner of Chef Inspired. “You also have CEBA remittance; no wonder you have so many stressed-out restaurant owners having sleepless nights.”
“We have never been at such a critical crossroads because there are no more subsidies coming in.”
Fiona will be a costly storm for Pratt. Chef Inspired owns 15 eateries throughout Halifax, including Cheese Curds, Habaneros, and Studio East. Many of those eateries lost power for multiple days over the weekend. Even worse, Pratt’s main production kitchen on Windmill Road may not get electricity until Tuesday or Wednesday. That kitchen is vital to supplying all his restaurants. Without it, the 10 locations still open may only last a couple more days.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, many restaurant owners must through the painful task of throwing away thousands of dollars worth of food. As Pratt explains it, a freezer full of ingredients can last a couple of days without power before it starts to spoil.
“Because it’s been down for so long, we throw everything out,” explained Pratt, who estimates he will lose $20,000 worth of food. “Now we got to get fresh food but we can’t bring in the fresh food yet until we got power, otherwise we’re just throwing that out too.”
“And I still have salaried people; they still get paid. You still have bills, and now you have food going in the garbage.”
Brian Doherty, owner of The Old Triangle, is also having to throw away precious food. His Halifax location got lucky with no power outages throughout the weekend. They were even able to say open through much of Friday evening and Saturday. But his pub locations in Charlottetown and Sydney were without power for days. Those freezers will have to be emptied.
Restaurants also took a revenue hit by having to close for a part of the weekend, or all of it. Even though The Old Triangle tried to be open as much as possible but still lost Friday night and Saturday brunch — usually busy times for the pub.
“It’s a significant hit because when you lose a Friday night that’s a big part of your business for the week,” said Doherty.
Pratt, meanwhile, estimates he lost $100,000 in revenue over the weekend, due to the lack of business across all 15 locations.
Even after the power comes back for all the restaurants, the pain of Covid-19 recovery marches on. Pratt also works as a consultant within the restaurant industry. He recently had to advise a fellow restaurant owner to declare bankruptcy, after going $140,000 in debt.
“When I did a deep dive on their books, I said they should declare bankruptcy. Now. Don’t wait any longer because you’re going further in the hole,” said Pratt. “They’re never going to come back. That’s the problem.”
Restaurants have hard choices to make with the prices on their menus. Food prices are going up but owners like Pratt know they can only jack up the prices so high before customers stop coming back.
Pratt used to pay $21 for a 16-litre jug of frying oil. That expense has since tripled, to $63.
“We can’t triple the price of our menus. Can you imagine? We’d all be out of business. If I raise a taco by 10 cents, I hear about it,” he said.
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].
