Local restaurants are doing everything they can to stay open as long as possible.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Lalui, owner of The Friendly Society in Elora, said she\u2019s of course apprehensive about what\u2019s going to happen next.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll along changes keep coming kind of every few weeks or so, there\u2019s new guidelines to follow and you don\u2019t know whether or not you\u2019re going to be shut down soon or not,\u201d Lalui said.<\/p>\n
Lalui said the government could close inside of restaurants again, so it\u2019s hard to know whether to invest money in making outside warm for guests.<\/p>\n
She added that they have got heaters and blankets, but you never know what\u2019s going to happen.<\/p>\n
Rebecca O\u2019Brien, owner of The Goofie Newfie in Fergus, said contact tracing has been a real struggle.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople just have a real issue providing, even though it\u2019s for their safety and for their knowledge, they have a real struggle wanting to provide their name and phone number, I wasn\u2019t expecting the hesitancy to provide that information coming into a restaurant,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien says that their food service has also been hindered due to the extreme level of constant sanitization in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien said that the level of service is different than pre-COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take photos of people on our patio thousands of time of day on their phone, this year we had to say we couldn\u2019t,\u201d O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien said some of their customers love to chat with their servers, but now they can\u2019t hang around and chat for 20 minutes because of the safety precautions put in place.<\/p>\n
She added that they are pivoting and doing everything they can to keep their doors open and to ensure safety for all.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Lalui, owner of The Friendly Society:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n