According to A new survey from Restaurants Canada, most food service businesses in BC might not have enough cash flow to successfully reopen their doors to diners.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Restaurants Canada, Vice President, Western Canada Mark Von Schellwitz says it has had to reinvent itself over the last couple of months for take out and delivery and it is now having to reinvent itself again in order to keep in mind physical distancing and cleanliness protocols.

“We appreciate very much [governments] approach, however what we’ve heard in our survey is that seven out of 10 of our members are extremely concerned with their ability to reopen, to pay their vendors, to pay their rent and just to survive the coming months.”

Von Schellwitz says as the industry looks to reinvent itself in order to cope with the new rules around cleanliness and physical distancing, owners and operators are likely going to need additional financial support.

“Fourteen per cent in April and 20 per cent in May of our members just could not come up with any arrangement with their landlord to defer their rent or come up with some sort of arrangement. So, we’re certainly asking the government to put in some sort of non-eviction clause until we can come up with some of these long term solutions.”

Von Schellwitz says it is going to prove hard for a lot of establishments. “The other thing that we’re hearing is yes, some of our members may not be able to even make a go of it under the new restrictions and that’s unfortunate, but that’s the reality. But, we want to make sure that those that can certainly have the support that they need from the government in order to be successful, bring their staff back and safely serve their guests and keep their staff safe at the same time.”