Coronavirus: Impact on the Restaurant Industry

In March 2020, Manitoba's government realized the severity of COVID-19 on its people. Businesses were encouraged to reduce occupancy, work from home if possible, or to close temporarily. The first few restrictions soon caused the restaurant I worked at to close for a month. The restaurant re-opened a month later but downtown was a ghost town. Using a couple of different food delivery companies helped a little bit but small locally owned businesses were hit hard by the restrictions. Many have not survived, and others are barely hanging on. Well-known chain restaurants have a better chance to survive these restrictions.

As a long-time server in the same restaurant for a bit over a decade, seeing the restaurant's clientele dwindle was heartbreaking. I never imagined that I would be laid-off after so many years due to a global pandemic. There were so many overwhelming thoughts and feelings that impacted me and took time to sort through. It will soon be a year since I was first laid-off, and even though I had picked up a few shifts (the last one being in September 2020); this situation makes me wonder if I will ever return. After the coronavirus has been dealt with, and people have been vaccinated, what does the future hold?

I think it is likely that many businesses will continue having people work from home because it is cost-effective. However, that means small locally-owned restaurants will not be able to maintain a fully staffed business. Many of these establishments rely on walk-in customers and catering orders to stay afloat and to retain an ideal number of staff members. This pandemic has taken both away because it is necessary to social distance and stay home if possible. While there are food delivery services such as Skip the Dishes, they also take quite a cut from the restaurant’s sales (not saying they should work for free, everyone needs to make a living) and unless a customer desires only a particular food from a restaurant, the plethora of possible vendors to choose from can influence customers to choose one restaurant over another because it is easier to compare prices versus the impulse of seeing a restaurant and walking in to order food.

Employers might decide to permanently lay-off senior staff members due to being unable to pay them the wage they were previously earning. Retaining staff members who have the experience but not the same pay rate provides employers with staff who can do the job but for less money. However, employers might cause those staff members to burn out. Plus, it could be difficult to have laid-off staff return briefly to fill-in for a regular staff member. So, what is an employer to do? A possible solution is to cycle current staff so that no one is burnt out from working too much. However, there is the issue of how will staff members pay their bills when they are not working. Employment insurance might be helpful if the work cycle is a week on and a week off for the scheduling system. This way, none of the staff are working full-time and should be eligible for collecting benefits. The employer still has staff members to run the restaurant and if they deem it beneficial, hire a new person to act as a fill-in once trained.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that small locally-owned restaurants will survive by the time all restrictions are lifted. If they do survive but cannot thrive due to the damage the coronavirus has caused the economy, many restaurant employees will be out of work unless they have used their time wisely to learn new skills, honed existing skills, or have found a way to flexibly work from home.

One thing is certain, the working world has changed immensely, and everyone is wondering what the future holds for all of us.