The past few days have been so muggy it feels like the prison camp in Cool Hand Luke.
So when I had a chance to get out of the humidity and into an air conditioned Burnaby restaurant, I took it.
Except that the place wasn’t cooled down by some good AC, it was a bit of a sweaty mess. But the food was good, so I just ate and left.
The next day, Tuesday, was the same thing. I was at a Burnaby restaurant and it was hot and muggy inside. I’ve eaten there before and know that this eatery has air conditioning.
This time, I asked the server – who was wearing a mask - about it because I could see she had sweat on her forehead.
“We’ve had to cut back on power costs,” the server said. “We have to save money.”
I’m not naming the restaurants because I actually agree with what they are doing. This blog is not meant as criticism, but to show just how dire the situation is as restaurants reopen in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the past few weeks, I’ve interviewed more than a dozen restaurant owners and at least half of them have told me they are keeping most of their lights off and cutting back on certain kitchen appliances as ways to reduce their power bills.
One server told me the restaurant’s owner is thinking of going to candlelight for the later parts of each evening. Thankfully, the daylight is lasting longer.
This is just how thin of a line restaurant owners are walking right now. Yes, many of them are reopening, but the places aren’t exactly packed with people. Even with fewer tables as customers are kept at a distance, many restaurants are pretty empty. So they are open, but revenues are down and it’s not as though costs have dropped.
Their food costs are still high.
So if you go for a sit-down meal and it’s a little warm inside, please don’t complain. There might be a good reason why it’s so hot.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
