Being a Good Patron

BEING A BETTER

rEstAurANt pAtroN

It has been over one year since

COVID-19 altered many facets of our lives. Although many of us have had to adjust how we manage our day-to-day interactions and routines, Alberta’s restaurant industry has been faced with a constant need-to-adapt to changing restrictions and challenges over the past 14 months.

The increased hypervigilance needed to implement new health measures and incur extra expenditures on approved safety equipment, sanitizer, and takeout containers to ensure the safety of their customers and staff, has had a toll. In addition, restaurants have also had to contend with limited capacities, challenges to the food supply chain, and somehow – responsibly managing staffing levels with the uncertainty of changing restrictions looming overhead.

"Support locally owned and operated businesses as they are the fabric of our community”

The effects of COVID-19 and increased health measures and changing restrictions have been necessary to ensure we mitigate the virus as much as possible. However, restaurants have been largely left on their own to navigate and enforce changing regulations in order to stay in business.

As patrons of the restaurant industry, here are a few small ways we can each support businesses and be better customers to ease the challenges and strain that they face.

Respect your reservations

Management of reservations is a growing issue for restaurants including guests who fail to show up for reservations or take-out orders.

As restaurant capacity is limited, optimizing each seat or order is critical, and chefs or management rely on reservation numbers to organize their staffing levels and food preparation.

Understandably in the COVID-19 world, to ensure the safety of all it is appreciated when guests cancel their reservations if they are not feeling well. Having a heads up of a canceled

Tapas

reservation also allows the restaurant an opportunity to make up for lost revenue by accommodating another reservation or walk-in guests.

Some restaurants like Calcutta Cricket Club have implemented measures such as an automated email confirmation and a phone call from the restaurant the day before a reservation to confirm the booking. On top of this, guests who make reservations at Calcutta Cricket Club will also receive a text message reminder 30 minutes before their reservation time. With the several opportunities built in for guests to cancel, it is surprising that the restaurant still encounters guests who no-show their bookings.

Other restaurants like Calgary’s Caesar’s Steak House have had to implement a “no show fee” for weekends, holidays, or certain group sizes to mitigate risks of guests who cancel their bookings too late or who don’t show up for their reservations during peak times.

As restaurants navigate decreased capacity, many have had to implement time limits in order to keep tables turning. Be mindful and respect the seating times in your bookings to help the restaurants manage their seatings.

Kindness is appreciated

With all the pivoting that restaurants are making to their menus and protocol, there is a lot happening behind the scenes to keep a restaurant operating.

NEW! Paired Take-Out Dinner Package from Pubblico Italian Kitchen Our February paired dinner packages from Pubblico all sold out, so we’re very happy to announce a completely new menu and package for May!

NEW! Fine & Dine Pairing Dinner at Delta South Atrium Saturday May 29 A superb and safe, 5-course dine-in live Fine & Dine paired dinner, with the food and drinks for each course served contact-free, directly to your room for you to enjoy on your private balcony while you watch and listen to us below in the atrium. And an overnight stay too! Paired Take-Out Dinner Package from Jane Bond BBQ Marketplace A 3-course paired dinner package with Jane Bond’s flash-frozen smoked meat meals, a fresh starter, and a whole jar of the best Caesar dressing!

Paired Take-Out Dinner Package from Hotel Arts A completely delicious, 4-course paired take-out package from Chef Quinn Staple! NEW! Virtual Live Vine & Dine at ATCO Blue Flame Kitchen Saturday June 5 Just like our regular paired Vine & Dine cooking demo evenings with ATCO chefs here, but for you to take out and enjoy at home - and join us live online!

For full details of events, to reserve your paired dinner packages, places at a Vine & Dine evening, or a private pairing dinner, visit

culinairemagazine.ca/events.

We’re continually adding new dates, so please check our website regularly. Email linda@culinairemagazine.ca If you’d like to be included in our fortnightly updates to hear about events and packages before the rest of the city.

During the pandemic, we’ve seen supply shortages on various foods at the grocery stores, ahem, flour and yeast - I’m looking at you. Add to this the complexity of predicting quantities of orders due to changing restrictions and overseas transportation for specialty ingredients that can make it challenging for some restaurants to access their typical ingredients. Food supply challenges may result in modified menu items.

Whether it be getting a dish that doesn’t taste exactly as it used to, your take-out order taking a bit longer than usual, or another mistake that is apt to occur, being met with empathy and kindness is very much appreciated.

Restaurants are often grateful to be given feedback directly so that they have an opportunity to correct a mistake, especially in today’s “age of information” where opinions and experiences are easy to access online, and where diners may read review after review before deciding which business to order from or to visit.

Make it a point to write rave reviews of your dining experiences as you might a not-so-positive experience, and shout out your favourite restaurants often and regularly online.

“Be nice, we really are trying hard to do our best and it's the scariest thing many of us have been through, we are trying to be strong too. Write reviews about your favourite places! Share about your favourite offerings or your favourite servers. The smallest acts of kindness help.” Tracy Little, Chef and Owner of Tapas in Canmore.

Be considerate of safety measures

One lesson that has been reinforced over the past year is that health and safety is paramount. For front line workers such as restaurant employees, working with the public may mean putting their personal safety in jeopardy when they come to work, or it may mean being in the uncomfortable position of having to enforce safety restrictions.

“We don’t like having to remind you to sanitize your hands or that you have to wear your masks when you come into the restaurant. It’s not in hospitality’s nature to have to do that,” says Dréa Philip, General Manager and Wine Director for Calcutta Cricket Club in Calgary, adding, “But it’s also the only way we can to survive right now.”

As guests, take the time to educate yourself on the latest restrictions, follow safety requirements and cohort restrictions, and be considerate of those around.

Calcutta Cricket Club

Support your favourites!

"It would be a total shame if, by the Fall, when the vast majority of the population have been vaccinated and everything opens up, that these restaurants didn't have the lifeline to survive just a few more months longer,” says Ariel del Rosario, Co-Owner of Edmonton’s Filistix.

When you own a small business, in the best of times you’re often wearing multiple hats to keep your business thriving. With the uncertainty of a global pandemic, most Alberta restaurateurs have likely been putting in all the energy they can muster into just surviving the past 14 months.

Order take-out directly from the business, tip generously on your meals, buy gift cards for friends, make reservations, or share their posts on social media. Support your favourite businesses like their lives depend on it, because there’s likely some truth to that statement.

“Support locally owned and operated businesses as they are the fabric of our community,” says Connie GiannoulisStuart, Proprietor of Caesar’s Steak House and Lounge in Calgary.

What does the future of small business in Alberta look like? How long will it take for us to come out of the pandemic? These aren’t questions that any of us have the ability to answer. Before we can “go back to normal”, there is likely still more caution to be taken and more pivoting for the restaurant industry as they adapt to changing regulations.

What we as customers can do is to assist our favourite businesses overcome the challenges they are currently facing with acts of kindness, compassion, and support, and we can also show care and consideration for the health and safety of frontline workers and other patrons.

Mill Street Brewery

Caesars

Carmen Cheng comes from a long line of food lovers and notorious over-orderers. She loves traveling, learning about different cuisines, and sharing her food adventures on social media.