Manitoba restaurants eager to welcome families back for in-person dining this Mother's Day
CBC
Manitoba restaurants are gearing up for what's expected to be a busy Mother's Day, following two difficult years marked by dining room closures and changing public health measures due to COVID-19.
Sunday will be the first Mother's Day since the start of the pandemic without restrictions in place for the province's restaurants.
"We're pretty much ready to go," said Ravi Dhaliwal, co-owner of Cora Breakfast and Lunch near Polo Park.
Mother's Day is typically one of the busiest at the restaurant, he said.
But in 2020, in-person dining was limited to patios only on Mother's Day. Last year, just before Mother's Day, Manitoba restaurant owners found out they'd have to close for in-person dining, and could only open for takeout and delivery.
Dhaliwal said there are challenges to switching to takeout and delivery for businesses that weren't designed with that model. Having the dining room open to full capacity this year is a relief, he said.
"I think it's going to be pretty, pretty busy," he said.
His restaurant is slowly getting back to where it was pre-pandemic, Dhaliwal said — but it will take time.
"I still believe it's still going to take, like, probably over a year to get back to kind of a normalcy," he said, pointing to challenges in addition to COVID-19, including supply chain demands and rising costs.
Like Dhaliwal, Promenade and Wine owner Shawn Brandson is expecting to see a full restaurant of customers this weekend.
Brandson said reservations for Mother's Day have been booked up for two weeks, though they're still taking walk-ins on their patio.
"Seems like everyone wants to get out and celebrate Mother's Day in restaurants this year," he said.
Brandson said his restaurant took a huge hit last year when the province put restrictions in place after he had spent thousands of dollars on food for the occasion, and on expanding his patio.
"Our customers really supported us, and we sold the food as to-go," he said, but it was "one of the tipping points that could have put the business under."
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