WESTLOCK – Restaurant owners across Alberta breathed a sigh of relief following the lifting of the Restrictions Exemption Program (REP) following an announcement made by Alberta premier Jason Kenney Feb. 8.
The program, which required patrons of restaurants to provide a valid proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test to sit down to eat inside an establishment, was lifted only one day after Kenney’s announcement.
Kerri’s Café in Westlock, which opened shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, was one of the many businesses that were forced to adapt to the new program when it was introduced in September 2021.
“At this point, in my business all I’ve ever known is the COVID thing and I’ve just gotten really good at adjusting and trying to do the best for our staff and customers,” said café owner Keri-lee Kostiw. “Within a week we were using the REP program and we have been doing that ever since. We’re always adjusting and it worked really well for us.”
While initially not planning to opt in, Kostiw says her employees were quick to create a system that worked for their establishment and patrons by using signs that encouraged café-goers to have their QR codes or negative tests ready while guiding them to the counter to place their orders.
“Most people were pretty good about it. They were thankful to have a safe place to come and eat and enjoy food as well,” said Kostiw. “We had a few people upset at the beginning, but that was mostly online criticism, but on the other side I had people thanking me for being open, so it definitely balanced out the negative.”
Despite having opened shortly before COVID-19 restrictions began to lock down much of the country, Kostiw says the café has been successful so far and has seen support from the community. With a return to normalcy on the horizon, Kostiw is excited to see what the future brings.
“It's hard to tell if it’s the weather or if people are sick, so I’ve given up on trying to tell what’s busy and what isn’t. But I think people in our community and outside our community have made a considerable effort to come out and support us and I can tell they’re really making an effort to do that and keep us in business,” Kostiw concluded.
For Apollo Pizza and Westlock Dairy Queen owner David Truckey, the announcement was quickly followed by an increase of in-person dining the following day.
“From literally the announcement to the next day we saw an immediate increase in patrons coming in. I think the people are happy that the government is moving forward with these phases, and hopefully with infection rates and hospitalization rates going down that we’ll see what happens from there,” said Truckey, who noted the difficulty the food industry faced through the pandemic. “Our industry was probably the hardest hit across the nation from REP. Businesses have taken on a huge amount of debt to try and keep afloat.”
When REP was introduced in Alberta, Apollo Pizza saw a significant drop in traffic with only around half the usual number of patrons dining in. While Truckey was fortunate enough to keep afloat through the program’s duration, he says that other businesses may not have been so lucky.
Additionally, Truckey noted that businesses also faced the brunt of backlash from patrons unhappy with the program after its introduction.
“I think initially asking for QR codes and ID was a little bit of an extra step and it had some patrons upset about it who voiced their displeasure,” said Truckey. “Eventually people who didn’t have their QR codes tended to stay away from in-person dining.”
Optimistic that the province is on track to lose all restrictions in a timely manner, Truckey says this news was a breath of fresh air for business owners who have continually had to adapt to ever-changing restrictions.
