Depression and frustration are the lot of employees and restaurant owners in Quebec, who lose their livelihood on 24 hours’ notice.
Thursday evening, Nicolas Bouchard learned, like the entire population of Quebec, the entry into force of new health measures, in particular the imposition of a curfew at 10 p.m. and the closure of restaurant dining rooms. This means he loses his job as a waiter, for the third time in less than two years.
However, he had to work for New Years Eve, at the restaurant Le Boulevardier, in the Hotel Le Germain in Montreal. About sixty people were expected and all the food for the seven-course meals was purchased.
“It’s really hard on morale,” says the student in tourism and hospitality. It’s annoying, because the restaurants respected all the restrictions, did everything that was asked of them, but each time we were closed anyway. “
He estimates he will be entitled to the Canada workers’ lockdown benefit of $ 270 per week, after deductions. But that’s very low compared to his income as a waiter, which he needs to pay for his education and rent.
Arielle Binette-Cuierrier, waitress at the General Staff, for her part, intends to wait for her employment situation to stabilize before undertaking university studies. During previous restaurant closings, the young woman worked in construction. But she was happy to come back to catering a few months ago.
“When I return to the environment that makes me happy, I spend evenings stressing out while waiting for press conferences”, laments the one who says she is more and more depressed.
The owner of the Boulevardier, Bruno Durand, deplores that this government decision was announced at the last minute. “I understand the decisions made, but not the way it’s done,” said Durand.
Many restaurateurs, like him, will lose the contents of refrigerators full of food.
“Restaurants will be able to donate it to community organizations, but this should not be at the expense of the operators,” claims the director of public affairs of the Association Restauration Québec, Martin Vézina.
The financial losses will be significant, but it is the fear of losing workers permanently that pulls entrepreneurs the most.
“We had so much trouble rebuilding a team, like everyone else, and there we have to put them back out of work. We brought in three cooks from France with two or three year contracts, ”says Durand.
Nicolas Bouchard, who loves his job, hopes to resume service when the dining rooms reopen. “But if I find another job in the meantime and it’s still uncertain in the restaurant business, it’s possible that at some point I’m just bored,” he admitted.
The situation is different for the diver Gabriel Guénette, who is already actively looking for a new job to permanently leave the sector battered by the pandemic. He does not at all want to relive the feelings of isolation and anguish that lived in him during the previous closings.
Fears of bankruptcy
The owner of L’Entre2 bistro-bar, on Saint-Denis Street in Montreal, had nevertheless found a formula to attract motivated workers. According to the concept of his restaurant, the same employees do all the tasks, from cooking to service to cleaning, on rotation. The tip is then divided equally among all.
“Cooks love to cook, but also to see customers. They are happy to be able to do various tasks. So we have a list of people who wanted to work for us, ”explains owner Dominic Marcheterre.
Unfortunately, Mr. Marcheterre has strong fears that his business will quickly go bankrupt. He had opened it only a month ago, after nine months of preparation, when the health situation seemed stable. He is therefore not entitled to federal assistance programs which require pre-pandemic financial results, nor to those in Quebec which require at least six months of activity.
“Two weeks of closure would already be catastrophic. Even if we don’t have a workforce, we have to pay for electricity, heating and rent, ”emphasizes the man whose emergency plan is to try to sell part of his restaurant. He would like governments to find solutions for traders who, like him, have recently started their businesses.
The co-owner of the catering restaurant L’Imposteur, in Lanaudière, refuses, for her part, to think of a possible closure. Quebec’s announcement, however, dealt a big blow to Roxane Bégin’s family business.
After making expansions to allow for distancing in the dining room, she planned to reopen her business in January. “It disappoints us a lot,” says the restaurateur.
It will continue to produce take-out meals, like last summer, in the hope that customers will be there again and again, despite the ambient gloom.