After a difficult year, BC’s pubs and restaurants aim to improve in 2022 | The Canadian News

As time passes into another difficult year, the British Columbia hotel industry looks to 2022 with unease.

Two years of COVID-19 and corresponding on-off restrictions have already put 15 percent of operators out of business, says the BC Beverage Licensee Alliance.

“We wouldn’t be remotely surprised to see another 5 to 10 percent of the industry disappear in the coming months,” CEO Jeff Guignard told Global News.

“People are very afraid of what will happen in the next few months.”

The Cold Tea restaurant on Granville Street opened its doors in the summer of 2020, but as a new business it has not been eligible for pandemic supports.

It has managed to sustain itself through restrictions, labor shortages and supply chain problems caused by the recent floods, an experience that owner Ron Cheng describes as a “roller coaster ride.”

“Everything has been thrown at us. We are still here. “

On Friday, Cold Tea staff were gearing up for a scaled-down New Year’s Eve, traditionally a major source of income for the industry. But now the establishment is tackling the province’s latest COVID-19 restrictions, banning organized New Year’s Eve events.

It’s a change from last year when the company was fined $ 2,300 for hosting a large group and serving drinks after 8 p.m. It was a violation of a last-minute COVID-19 order that halted New Years Eve liquor sales. early.

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“This time we will only have a regular dinner service,” Cheng said.

“I think we are lucky this year where there is no curfew at 10 pm. And this time they gave us enough notice to make the necessary adjustments. “

According to Restaurants Canada, restaurants and foodservice companies are the third-largest private sector employers in British Columbia, accounting for about 193,000 jobs, before COVID.

The organization said BC restorers recovered in 2021 with sales growth of 12 percent, but revenue was almost 17 percent below 2019 and is not expected to reach pre-pandemic levels until 2023.

At the Junction Pub on Davie Street, the return of Plexiglass dividers and six-person group size limits in December heralded a 35 to 45 percent drop in sales, according to owner Vince Marino.

“There has definitely been no profitability for the last two years. We are simply in survival [mode], with the hope of continuing that and achieving a balance in the process, and with the hope of being able to survive this, ”he said.

“We have managed to survive because we have had some very, very loyal customers and they have kept coming and they have adapted very well to the restrictions. And for us, that’s where we are. The survival mode is to pay the rent, pay the utilities, pay our staff. “

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, it seems unlikely that the business will flourish again anytime soon.

But for operators like Cheng, who have invested all their savings in their business, the only way out of the pandemic is to put one foot in front of the other and hope for the best.

“It has been difficult, but we are going to get over it,” he said.

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