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By Veronica Beltran

worry for restaurants says survey

Small businesses worry they won’t make it through pandemic

May 7, 2020 | 9:58 AM

VANCOUVER—A new survey by Restaurants Canada revealed that restaurants across the province may not have enough cash flow to reopen their doors.

According to the survey which was conducted between May 1 and May 5, seven out of ten survey respondents said they are either very or extremely worried that their business won’t have enough liquidity to pay vendors, rent and other expenses over the next three months.

The survey also discovered that while the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program might provide some restaurants with relief, rent obligations continue to be a challenge for many operations.

At least one out of five independent restaurant operators are dealing with a landlord who is not willing to provide rent relief, either through the CECRA program or some other arrangement. 14 per cent of independent restaurants haven’t been able to pay rent from April and nearly 20 per cent aren’t able to pay rent for May, despite not having an agreement from their landlord to postpone those payments.

“The resiliency of our industry won’t be enough to ensure British Columbia’s 14,500 restaurants remain viable in the face of insufficient cash flow and insurmountable debt.”—Mark von Schellwitz, Restaurants Canada Vice President, Western Canada

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“The province needs to come to the table with a package of solutions to help these mostly small and medium-sized businesses stay afloat as they ramp up their operations,” added Schellwitz.

B.C.’s food service industry represented five per cent of the province’s GDP, before the start of the pandemic. If conditions do not improve, the province’s food service sales could be down by as much as $2.9 billion for the second quarter of 2020, leaving the industry unable to recover the roughly 121,500 jobs it’s lost.

Restaurants Canada is urging the province for further action including, a broader rent relief program to capture businesses that have experienced a significant decline in sales but do not meet the current qualifying threshold as well as commercial tenant protections for those not benefiting from CECRA in order to relieve stress in the short term.

As well as ensuring that restaurants have enough working capital to re-open their doors, and further assistance with labour costs.

890 surveys were completed from food service operators across Canada representing 11,965 locations (many respondents belong to multi-unit businesses.)