Entrepreneurs Are Preparing for Patio Season As Permitted By the City of Peterborough
/As Downtown Peterborough increases space for pedestrians and patios, several entrepreneurs are eager to serve their customers with patio dine-in beginning Friday.
Chemong Lodge (pictured) has been sold by the Northey family to the Adam and Addison Brown, owners of Dr. J’s BBQ & Brews. File Photo
Existing approved patios are permitted to open with the province’s announcement of Stage one re-opening for the Peterborough region.
Restaurants have been unable to serve dine-in customers since late March due to the emergency brake shutdown announced by the Government of Ontario.
“After a quiet winter and two months of being on lockdown, we’re very excited to see people out on the street again enjoying all that downtown has to offer,” said Susan Tung, owner of Hanoi House.
Tung is a first-time entrepreneur with her Vietnamese restaurant located in downtown Peterborough on Hunter Street and on Lansdowne St. W.
Tung outside her first of two locations of her Vietnamese restaurant: Hanoi House. She opened her business on February 14, 2020. Photo Courtesy of Hanoi House.
Tung is not the only restaurant owner excited to be able to serve dine-in customers again. Taso’s Restaurant & Pizzeria is eager to open its doors to the public for dine-in.
“We’ve been crazy busy this week making sure everything is in place to be able to open our patio for Friday,” said Taso Hatzianastasiou, owner of Taso’s Restaurant & Pizzeria. “We’re really excited to be able to bring back our serving staff and finally welcome customers.”
Taso’s is known for their homemade pizza and Greek cuisine. Hatzianastasiou took ownership of the property on March 30, 2019 and renovated it into Taso’s. Photo courtesy of Taso’s Restaurant & Pizzeria.
The re-opening of restaurants is one more step towards normalcy from the COVID-19 pandemic that has drastically affected the world since March 2020.
”The sentiment of opening is an overwhelming feeling of relief,” said Adam Brown, co-owner of Dr. J’s BBQ and Brews and Chemong Lodge. “I’m relieved that our staff can get back to work, that our guests can feel some sense of normalcy and that we can get back to what we love to do.”
Adam and Addison Brown of Dr. J’s BBQ & Brews and Chemong Lodge will have their first summer owning both businesses. Photo courtesy of Adam Brown.
The City of Peterborough released guidelines that businesses opening patios need to follow under the easing of its emergency orders.
Establishments must take measures to ensure physical distancing of at least two metres between patrons from different households, including:
Using reservations – no lineups.
Limiting the number of patrons allowed in the outdoor space at one time.
Ensuring enough space between tables, including to allow for movement.
Access to indoor facilities is limited to patio/outdoor dining area access, food pickup, payment, washrooms or other health and safety purposes.
Liquor sales licensees who wish to temporarily extend the physical size of their existing licensed patio, or temporarily add a new licensed patio within the approved period are authorized to do so if all the following criteria are met
The physical extension of the premises is adjacent to the premises to which the licence to sell liquor applies.
The municipality in which the premises is situated does not object to an extension.
The licensee can demonstrate sufficient control over the physical extension of the premises.
There is no condition on the liquor sales licence prohibiting a patio.
Peterborough Public Health and the City of Peterborough have collaborated to determine precautions that must be followed by businesses choosing to reopen existing, previously approved patios. These precautions include:
the restriction of the number of patrons on the patio to a maximum of 50% of the previously approved capacity;
the prohibition of any overhead structures such as tents and canopies; the use of umbrellas is encouraged to provide shade
ensuring that tables and chairs are at least one metre from the outer limit of the patio, in order to facilitate physical distancing.
