Restaurants: “Open us as soon as possible”

While the government is reluctant to reopen dining rooms in restaurants on January 31 or February 8, restaurateur Vianney Goodbot believes there is no reason to wait another week.

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The February 8 date is currently being considered by Quebec, in order to allow restaurants to receive financial aid for a month as they will be closed for at least seven days in February.

“After 13 months of shutting down over two years, I find it completely absurd that we are having this discussion. Open up to us as soon as possible and find a way we can get financial help for the next month,” claimed Vianney Goodbot, co-owner of Succeda Restaurant, on LCN radio broadcasts.

The latter believes that the closures in the past two years have undermined the mental health of workers in the restaurant sector. This situation has also increased the problem of labor shortages in the region, Mr. Goodbot believes.

“We’ve lost a lot of employees we thought we’d keep for far too long because they re-orientated themselves to create little security,” says the restaurateur.

Vianney Goodbot wants a better line of communication with the government in order to stay open if Quebec is hit by a new wave of COVID-19. He regrets that with each closure, the restaurateurs were not consulted and notified at the last minute.

“We want to be corporate citizen donations. I think restaurants are not places where there are a lot of disease outbreaks,” says the owner of the restaurant.

“I find it a shame that we are always the scapegoats,” he adds.

So Vianney Godbout hopes that the January 31 date will be chosen by the government, in order to allow restaurants to be ready for the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day.

To see the full interview, watch the video above.