The return of lockdowns across Ontario means the return of businesses needing to severely restrict their occupancy. In the case of sit-down restaurants, this means having to close their dining areas and move to rely on delivery and take-out to be able to maintain their businesses.
Lisa Jackson is the owner of the Shady Pine Family Restaurant: a small breakfast and lunch diner located on the outskirts of Chatham. It’s a restaurant she’s owned and operated for 11 years, and she says that she’s never needed to make as many changes to the way she runs her business as she has in this past year.
Lisa Jackson, the owner of the Shady Pine Family Restaurant
“I usually have 13 on staff; right now, I’m only bringing on the cooks,” Jackson explains in the empty dining area of her restaurant. The downsizing also
comes as the Shady Pine only manages a revenue of approximately a third of what the restaurant brought in prior to the pandemic.
Now that the restaurant isn’t allowed to have patrons sit in, Jackson talks about the changes that she’ll be making to the restaurant in order to keep operating in the event that restrictions and lockdowns last for months. “We’re putting in a take-out window this year and improving the patio system, in case that’s the only choice this summer.”
Jackson still intends to keep her restaurant running through this crisis, and is relying on the local community’s support to continue operation.
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