Fourth wave looms large for small businesses

A lot of small businesses in Brandon won’t survive a fourth wave of the pandemic, Brandon Chamber of Commerce president Barry Cooper said Friday after the province announced new public health orders.

Those new orders included only fully vaccinated people being permitted to access non-essential facilities like restaurants, gyms, and ticketed sporting events starting Sept. 3.

“My first concern is we’ve seen this government modelling come out and it shows pretty clearly that there is a potential fourth wave creating another round of business closures. Many of our businesses won’t survive that.”

Cooper has asked the province continuously to look for ways to keep businesses open and not use business closures as the only tool in the tool box for managing the pandemic.

“We’re willing to do whatever public health requires if it allows us to stay open. We really need public health to continue to look at ways to keep businesses open and not to look for us to lock our doors.

“To me, that’s the key to this.”

Cooper sees Friday’s public health orders as “the best of a lot of bad choices. This is probably the best of those options.”

Cooper recognized that it’s a hard time right now for businesses when the option is closing the door.

“I think every restaurant owner would rather deal with this than not being open.”

And he’s right. At The Dock on Princess, general manager Erin Wells said Friday’s announcement didn’t come as a surprise.

“We’re just going to continue to follow whatever public health rules they put out that allows us to stay open,” she said.

“If we can stay open without capacity limits, that’s good news. If we have to check cards, that’s what we’ll be doing.”

Wells said the restaurant is used to checking IDs at the bar, so while it’s a bit of an inconvenience and more time-consuming, they will do whatever is necessary while following the most recent orders. With unvaccinated patrons no longer allowed to dine out, Wells does expect there will be a slight decline in business.

“But I could be wrong,” she said.

“It’s not necessarily bad news. Checking cards will slow us down a little bit in terms of service. We’re trying to do our best to keep everyone safe. Whatever public health measures they put in place to keep everyone safe, we’re just gonna follow, and do our best to uphold everything.”

At the Komfort Kitchen, owner Derek Woychyshyn just wants to keep everyone safe. But, “It doesn’t surprise me this is happening again, I am hoping they don’t do restrictions or shutdowns.”

For Woychyshyn’s staff, going back to checking vaccination cards at the door is a pain. “We’re back to bugging people at the door for cards. It’s a lot of extra work while maintaining a busy restaurant.”

“Obviously, we have to do this. If we don’t follow the rules, we can get in trouble and get fined. That’s why I ask people to please be nice. It’s not the restaurants asking you to do it, it’s the government and public health.”

Woychyshyn said since the restrictions lifted two weeks ago, his restaurant has been crazy busy. With unvaccinated people no longer permitted to dine in a restaurant, he thinks businesses will stay level, regardless.

However, he’s hopeful patrons will be understanding when encountering staff who have to ask to see proof of vaccinations.

“Have your cards ready. It’s not us doing it. We’re being made to do it. If you can’t be nice, go away.”

» kkielley@brandonsun.com