How do you fill hungry stomachs during COVID-19? That’s the question local restaurant owners are asking themselves during this outbreak, with some finding new answers to help out their customers.
Creighton’s Pizza has closed in-person service on Creighton Avenue, saying the storefront of the business is too small for anyone to linger and maintain social distancing. While the owners put up a Plexiglas sheet to separate the cooking area from the waiting area, co-owner Kaiti Keramydas said that wouldn’t be enough.
“We were kind of starting to think again. That's all that was on our minds, how can we improve things around here for the safety of our employees and our customers,” said Keramydas.
“Our next thought was to have the curbside pickup and delivery only. We did that because our waiting area here in the front is kind of small and you could only have one customer come in at a time.”
The pizza shop is not closed for business, though - far from it. Existing delivery operations are going in full swing, bringing in a no-contact delivery option. Pick-up options are still available - as long as the person picking up the food is waiting outside in their vehicle.
“We just thought that it'd be easier if we went to the customer instead,” Keramydas said.
In Flin Flon, Chicken Chef has been hit particularly hard by the crisis. Owner Dan Hlady said about half of his staff has needed to be laid off, since sit-down services within Manitoba restaurants have been shut down by provincial government decree.
With that in mind, Chicken Chef has gone towards an almost exclusively delivery-based business model during the outbreak, continuing to make food then shipping it out where needed.
“We were going to start into the delivery business. This circumstance actually gave us a very big push in that direction and we just went ahead and started it,” said owner Dan Hlady.
“We weren’t necessarily fully prepared for it. It would have taken time because we’d have to order PIN pads and decals for vehicles - there’s quite a bit more that I wanted to do to be prepared to launch it. Instead, we launched it without some of that stuff.”
The change to delivery has allowed Hlady to keep staff members on the job who may otherwise be laid off due to the crisis.
“We’re looking at putting some people who might have been unemployed, now we’re holding back saying, ‘Maybe we can get them into delivery.’”
Hlady said the new measures have been successful so far.
“It definitely has helped us out and it’s been well received. Very positive for us, for sure.”
Another thing the businesses have kept in mind is providing something to do for people and families cooped up at home. Creighton’s Pizza began selling frozen pizzas and pizza kits, consisting of dough, sauce and toppings, allowing people to both construct and cook their pizza at home. Keramydas said the new items have been a hit.
“I think people just enjoy something new and something they can do as a family at home. Selling frozen pizzas was something we’ve actually been planning for a long time, even before COVID-19,” Keramydas said.
“This was our chance to kind of get that going because we have people that come from out of town or customers who can’t always have access to our pizza.”
Hlady said the new measures brought in by businesses, including his own, are just small parts of how COVID-19 has affected Canadian life and work.
“We’re all in this together. This isn’t just my sector - it’s affecting everyone from mining to nursing to the grocery stores to hardware stores to masseuses and hairdressers. There’s no corner of the market that hasn’t been impacted in some way, shape or form,” he said.
