The Effects of Pandemic on our Service Industry.

[esquire]

The survival of local pubs and restaurants should be the least of anyone's concerns right now.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

One thing people could do to help restaurants and other businesses would be to buy gift certificates directly from the business now, with a view to using/gifting them after things return to normal. That assumes, of course, that the business will still be around in a few months ....

What about takeout? From what I've seen and heard, eat-in customers are decreasing by a lot, but deliveries are going strong.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by rousseau

What about takeout? From what I've seen and heard, eat-in customers are decreasing by a lot, but deliveries are going strong.

Takeouts will definitely work.

[Luisito]

A person driving all over town and going to peoples doors delivering food to many homes in one day. Sounds like a good way to spread the virus.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by rousseau

What about takeout? From what I've seen and heard, eat-in customers are decreasing by a lot, but deliveries are going strong.

Yes, if you are willing to deal with a delivery person in the current atmosphere (and assuming that deliveries continue to be allowed).

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by esquire

The survival of local pubs and restaurants should be the least of anyone's concerns right now.

Why? Are those people's jobs, livelihood and families not important?

People are losing all sense of perspective on this. Let's trash the economy because a handful of people have become ill.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Why? Are those people's jobs, livelihood and families not important?

People are losing all sense of perspective on this. Let's trash the economy because a handful of people have become ill.

Yeah, lets ignore that fact that if we go out and get the virus people around us can die because of our indifference and negligence.

There is a time and place for everything and gathering at pubs is not one of them right now.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Luisito

A person driving all over town and going to peoples doors delivering food to many homes in one day. Sounds like a good way to spread the virus.

Oy...I hadn't thought of that.

[jawagord]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Takeouts will definitely work.

Picked up some Cubano sandwiches from Empire today, I think there were 2 people eating in the restaurant, the manager came out with our sandwiches and thanked us.

[Djeffery]

Wow, I must be out of date. Takeout to me means, I go there, pick up the food and take it out. We used to call where the guy drives around town bringing you your food and diseases "delivery".

[SpongeG]

on the news on my drive home today, they said Quebec will be closing bars and asking restaurants to reduce capacity by 50%, meaning only allow people to sit at every other table.

Lululemon and Lush both announced that they will be closing all their stores in North America until the end of the month.

Apple stores were closed yesterday and will remain closed until March 27. The microsoft stores were also closed to the general public but would allow people in for specific reasons. The sign said something to that affect.

At a 7-11 that has a tim hortons coffee section in it, the section was closed off and staff have to get and serve the drinks for you also they will not allow any reusable cups at the other 7-11 I went to on the way into work. They also had signs but I didn't really read them fully.

Yesterday I went to Nordstrom and all the staff was wearing face masks and the usually busy beauty section was dead, they were offering 10% off anything you bought as the sales girl said that they have never done that before especially on the $300 candle brands.

I was at Whole Foods yesterday, the store was extremely busy. The produce section was at about 40% stocked, many empty bins and displays. The meat department was empty except for ground turkey. They had signage saying they were sorry they had run out of meat and would be restocking the next day. They were also rationing toilet paper according to the signs posted but there was none anyway. They also had no sanitizer products as they were all sold out as well. ALl the grocery stores I went to over the weekend, we went to the RCSS after Whole Foods to get bananas which they had, but many of the canned goods were sold out and had empty shelves. There was no toilet paper. Bleach stock was low, cleaning products also were low. I drove past the RCSS on my way into work this morning at 6:30 am and there were people lining up outside already, the store was going to open at 7 am.

The city of Surrey as of monday will be closing all rec centres, libraries, swimming pools etc. with no determined reopening date.

Whistler Blackcomb and now Cypress in Vancouver will all be closed down as of Monday.

I work in a restaurant, they have introduced some new procedures, it was slower than normal for a Sunday so who knows how the week will go.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Oy...I hadn't thought of that.

Wash your hands before and after taking the food out, and you should be fine.

[kwoldtimer]

At least some coffee shops still have common water and milk/cream/sugar dispensers. That needs to change so that you receive your beverage fully prepared and with the top on, if it’s to take away.

[SpongeG]

At the restaurant I work at one of the new procedures is that the server can serve you tea in a little tea pot thing, a cup for drinking it and the tea bag. They cannot open the tea bag or put it in the water for the customer, and some customer got so angry at the server the server was hiding out in the back lol.

Also they cannot refill your water glass at the table from a jug, they must give you a new glass everytime, same goes for pop and coffee.

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

At the restaurant I work at one of the new procedures is that the server can serve you tea in a little tea pot thing, a cup for drinking it and the tea bag. \

I haven't been in my restaurant since Friday....and it definitely looks like they're closer to fully closing soon. They're now closed on Monday and Tuesday morning (dinner service only)…..this means things are likely going to lead to my restaurant fully closing for a period.

I now have one shift this week, which might be 3, hopefully 5 hours. If someone calls in sick.....I might work a double, (12 hours)….which would be better for me as I'm unsure how I'll get by for the next little while.

[SpongeG]

Yea, I saw a piece of news about New York and they showed some places where the restaurants were closed up, especially those who served Broadway since Broadway has shut down into April and possibly longer. Some say it could take 6 months for many places to reopen, they just don't know.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Yea, I saw a piece of news about New York and they showed some places where the restaurants were closed up, especially those who served Broadway since Broadway has shut down into April and possibly longer. Some say it could take 6 months for many places to reopen, they just don't know.

It will be interesting to see how this works it’s way through the system. Will property owners, for example, give restaurants a break on rent to help them survive an extended shutdown? Will Governments find a way to get cash to people out of work without access to other sources of help?

[SpongeG]

I did read about someplace that is paying its staff while they are shut down, some others were going to pay 50% of their regular pay while they are shutdown.

[ssiguy]

I think a lot of you have this odd notion that the lower skilled service sector is nothing more than a bunch of servers and hamburger flipper which is way off the mark. Besides, as already mentioned, hotels there is also the massive retail sector. Most of those jobs are also low skilled but their effect on the economy is profound. Imagine that sector imploding {with the notable exceptions of food stores and pharmacies} and the massive ramifications of manufacturers not being able to sel their products and the layoffs it would produce.

We live in a CONSUMER based economy and those low skilled service workers are at the very foundation of it because their services allow us to be consumers in the first place.

[Doug]

If this goes on long enough, I could imagine some people not missing some of the services they were previously habituated to use like coffee shops, business travel, restaurants, movie theatres, some educational services, cleaning services etc. Even before this, I noticed my own use of services has really plummeted over the past 10 years or so as prices have increased, DIY becomes much easier with ready access to required information and more is available online.

It will be interesting how this impacts the emerging service industry, such as ride sharing, Airbnb, Uber Eats etc. It could reduce overall demand or disproportionately hit the gig economy if it is perceived as having lower standards.