No matter where you went this past weekend, line-ups of people were seen outside many restaurant patios and retail stores as the province moved into Step 1 of the province's reopening plan.
Excited residents patiently waited their turn to get onto a restaurant patio or into a retail store, while employees hustled to accommodate line-ups and turn over tables as quickly as possible.
“Opening patios was definitely a positive for us all!” exclaims Tony Garcia, owner of Poleiro’s in Bradford. “Great to see people socializing.”
Poleiro’s patio section is shared with other restaurants in the West Park plaza including Chuck’s Roadhouse and new restaurant Kabob and Karahi. The closed-off, parking lot patio noticeably stood out with Garcia’s giant, blow-up rooster that could be seen from Holland street.
Bradford restaurants that participated in the patio program last year were quick to re-apply again this season, with many new restaurants joining the program for the first time this year such as Caldense Bakery and Vivo Pizza and Pasta.
“This year we decided to take advantage of a patio for convenience for our customers,” shares Alex Bournazakis, owner of Caldense Bakery. “If people want to sit outside and have a coffee, they can do so. Most bakeries don’t have patios – customers are in and out – but we wanted to do it to give people a place to enjoy their drinks.”
“It went quite well," says Kate Yip, owner of Wimpy’s Diner in Bradford who made her patio a bit smaller this year. “So far, better then last year."
"We felt it was a race to get things in order,” notes Kelly Jean, manager and server/bartender at Uttara Khand Indian restaurant located in the downtown. “As you can see, we have a very modest patio… so, it wasn’t as challenging as our neighbouring restaurants."
“We had a full back patio and half-full front patio even after midnight, so, it’s great to see all the support,” says Juan Velazquez, owner of Hacienda Santa Teresa Mexican restaurant on Holland street. “[T]he customers were great and very polite and patient with us when we went through some very busy patches.”
Velazquez shared the restaurant’s takeout suffered due to the slammed patios, and staff had to turn away over 20 takeout orders over the weekend because of how busy they were.
“We are in a transition period where we still have a lot of people that prefer ordering takeout as opposed to dining in,” he adds. “But all in all, we are very happy to be back! Yesterday was actually a record sales day for us so we are thankful and hope that it continues.”
Although restaurants were happy with Ford’s announcement to open patios a bit earlier than scheduled, some restaurant owners shared they struggled to get prepared in time for the reopening weekend. Many staff could be seen training new hires last minute as kitchens struggled to keep up with orders.
“The whole weekend was swamped, it’s really good, but really hard,” says Noe Martinez, owner of Hay Carumba who adds they were short-staffed originally but were able to pull in staff just before opening weekend. “People were so excited to go out – everyone wanted a margarita this weekend."
Martinez says the restaurant’s phones were ringing off the hook and was forced to turn off their third-party ordering apps because staff could not keep up with both patio and takeout.
“We could barely answer the phone – whoever called for reservations this weekend, we’re sorry!” says Martinez who admits he worked over 14 hours alone on Saturday and had to help the new cooks in the kitchen.
“I’m really happy the town’s allowed us to do this patio program again! We’re making it through!” he adds.
“We feel so blessed by the amazing support the community showed us this past weekend! As we trained our new staff and worked out the logistics of a new menu. Our guests were patient and seemed very understanding that not everything would be ‘perfect’,” shares Eric Fex, part-owner of Don Cherry’s Sports Grill in Bradford. “Because of the immense love and support of the community, we are delaying our opening for around 4 p.m. on Monday, as we are out of food."
“There’s still a bit of dust we need to shake off to give everyone the best experience possible, but we will get there soon,” reminds Velazquez.
