‘It’s about time,’ Sault restaurant owner says of return to indoor dining (10 photos)

“It’s about time.”

That from Nick Cavaliere, who, along with brother Sergio, owns and operates Giovanni’s, Fratelli’s Kitchen and The Burger Don, in reaction to the province progressing to Step 3 of the Ford government’s Roadmap to Reopen plan.  

As of Friday July 16, that allowed restaurants to bring back indoor dining for customers.

“It’s been a long time coming. Ontario’s probably gone through some of the strictest restrictions in Canada, if not the world,” Cavaliere said, speaking to SooToday at Fratelli’s. 

“People have felt it. People want to get back to normal, people want to start living their lives, and part of that is going out for dinner or going to a store.”

“It was really nice to see regular customers again. They were very happy to be back, and we couldn’t wait to have them back. Some of our customers are like extended family,” Cavaliere said.

There are still some COVID-19 precautions in place at restaurants, such as customer sign-in, hand sanitizing and keeping tables two metres apart.

“There are a few tables that aren’t able to be in use because of social distancing but it’s not too bad. We have 10 tables inside, it’s great,” Cavaliere said.

Cavaliere said he commends the public at large for being patient and for having obeyed government and public health rules throughout the COVID-19 pandemic ordeal which has now seen three provincial lockdowns, but stated “now it’s time to start living life again.”

“Vaccinations are going great. It seems to be working, I hope, and we’ll go from there.”

Takeout has been “fantastic” throughout the pandemic, Cavaliere said, anticipating takeout and delivery will be a big part of people’s dining experience on an ongoing basis.

“The takeout numbers are still there, but now that people are coming back in to eat it’s like icing on the cake.”

But the latest lockdown, imposed by the province as a stay-at-home order in April which limited restaurants to takeout and delivery, with a step up to outdoor patio dining in June, has been a long haul.

Cavaliere said “the gyms, the hairstylists and the barbers, they’re the ones I felt the absolute worst for. The restrictions were what they were, but how can there be some things you can go do when you’re face to face with somebody, but you can’t get your hair cut? With all the health steps they were putting in place, with the sanitizing, the face shields and the masks, why couldn’t you go get your hair cut? These people (gym owners and their staff, and hair salon owners and staff) were having to stay at home, they lost a lot. They have families, they have children to support and they were told they couldn’t go to work.”

Regarding some of his own employees in the restaurant business having to stay home throughout the three lockdowns Ontario has experienced, Cavaliere said “it was frustrating for some of them because it’s not like they wanted to stay home. Some of them had to because they had families and their kids weren’t going to school.”

Cavaliere said most of his staff is now back to work but there are some job openings available (stating his three restaurants employ approximately 100 people when going at full strength).

“There were a lot of good things (COVID-19 restrictions) that were done, there were a lot of bad things. Heaven forbid if something like this happens again, maybe we could do this the right way the next time because some things were fumbled, there’s no disputing that...I’m not in politics and I’m not a health official so I don’t have those answers, but I hope they (the government and public health authorities) do by now.”

Non-essential retailers were shut down in April, limited to curbside delivery.

“It’s so nice (to be in Step 3). It’s nice getting to see everyone again, to be back shopping and in the store. It’s nice keeping busy. The customers are excited to come in,” said Abril Serenelli, Jorie’s Fine Clothing sales associate.

“We were shut down (with no curbside shopping). It was pretty hard not being at work. We were waiting and not knowing when we would open again. We were just anticipating getting back to normal. I’m glad that we’re able to open again now. This last lockdown was long...I hope this is it (for lockdowns). I hope we can keep moving forward,” Serenelli said. 

“It’s great (to be open for indoor shoppers),” said Ryan Rosset, Savoy’s Jewellers (Station Mall) owner/operator and gemmologist/goldsmith.

“We were fortunate to have the other store (Savoy's on Queen Street East) with an exterior entrance to operate (with curbside service), but this mall location was closed for a couple of months. The staff are excited to get back, and we have a close clientele who have been excited to come back and visit us. The morale around the mall has been great.”

“It was great to see everyone shopping local (while conducting curbside service at Savoy’s Queen Street location),” Rosset added.

“It’s a little bit overwhelming,” said Melodie Taylor, manager of The Rad Zone.

“I was used to seven people (when businesses were limited to curbside service) and now there’s 10 people, 15 people, but we adjusted last time and we’ll adjust this time.” 

“I'm excited to see my customers...sales are good here. We’re killing it,” said Taylor of the Rad Zone, which sells vinyl, CDs, DVDs, video games, books and skateboards.