Some Sackville businesses are going above and beyond orange phase restrictions this time around.
Orange level restrictions require sit-down restaurants to check that all patrons are only sitting with their own single-household bubble, maintain social distancing and a capacity, and strict mask-wearing policies.
All establishments are also required to keep diligent records of all customers’ contact information.
A few restaurants and bars around town say that this is too much to ask, and not as safe as take-out.
Malcolm Campbell, a manager at Cranewood on Main, says the bakery is doing take-out only.
Malcolm Campbell: Number one, safety. We want to limit the exposure. They’re recommending that people don’t eat in restaurants sitting in confined spaces sharing the air. And also, there was talk last orange phase that restaurants were being forced to card people and ensure that people were sitting within their bubble, which is essentially impossible. In Sackville, where half of our clientele is students, whose address and bubbles do not reflect where they actually live. So someone may be in a bubble, two people may live together in the same apartment, but have addresses in different provinces because they’re university students. We have no way of verifying if people are actually in their bubble, and we want to follow the rules. That’s our primary goal, is to keep everyone safe. We just didn’t see a way that we could keep the dining room open and be fair and let people sit with their bubble and make sure that they were sitting with a bubble.
Cranewood has between two and five staff members on at a time, whose time would be divided between COVID-19 guideline enforcement and keeping the bakery running.
For the sake of safety and practicality, Cranewood is doing takeout only during the orange phase.
Mel’s Tearoom is also emphasizing takeout and delivery over indoor seating.
Owner Dave Epworth says he planned to make the switch after the last orange phase, which caused him to lose a significant amount of business.
Many of Mel’s diners are people who work in town, says Epworth.
Since only those within the same single household bubble are allowed to be seated together at restaurants, business lunches are no longer permitted.
Between that and Mount Allison students self-isolating in the coming weeks, Epworth says that takeout and delivery was his best option.
While the restaurant is relatively empty, staff is still busy at work doing deep cleaning and tasks that cannot be done while customers are sitting at the booths.
Ducky’s Pub is also temporarily closed as of January 5th of this year, due to the orange phase restrictions.
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