The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Restaurant operators yesterday backed calls for the creation of a formal "Capacity Certificate” mechanism that would allow the sector to resume indoor dining at 50 percent occupancy.

Allen Williams, Café Matisse's assistant general manager, told Tribune Business he “100 percent agrees” with the proposal by Vernal Major, chief executive of the Equinox Group of Companies, which owns the Xscape Lounge & Nightclub and the Climax Lounge, as a means to enable restaurants to safely resume indoor dining amid COVID-19.

He added: “We are losing a lot of business. Not only the lack of indoor dining; we have to deal with the curfew as well. We have to try and have everybody out of the restaurant by 9pm in order for our workers to be home for 10pm.”

Mr Williams said he foresees no difficulties with implementing Mr Major's suggestion, and added: “I don’t think this would be difficult. Everybody that owns a restaurant should be on board with that because they are losing out. They are not going to say no to that. We are losing money every day.”

Mr Major, who said his $300,000 investment is "at risk" due to some $700,000 in losses racked up during the COVID-19 pandemic's lockdowns, curfews and closures, earlier this week floated the idea of restaurants being allowed to resume indoor dining at 50 percent capacity.

To give consumers confidence, and validate that operators are doing so safely, Mr Major said the Royal Bahamas Police Force Fire Department should provide all such businesses with a “Fire and Safety Capacity Certificate” based on their indoor square footage.

Mr Williams said: “How we are only allowed to offer dining outside, what happens if it rains? What do I do? I can’t bring anybody inside of the restaurant, so that means I will lose all of that business. In the same way, if it gets hot outside, how many persons would want to sit out in the hot sun to have a meal? So we lose both ways.”

Peter Maury, owner of the Green Parrot and Margaritaville restaurants, said such a capacity certificate makes “perfect sense". He added: “People want to go back to work. This is a fact. We're just making it harder for businesses to open even if it's just to, you know, go back to doing something.

"The biggest thing is they released a study where less than 2 percent of infections come from a restaurant because of Hepa filters and UV filters, and spray and fogging and everything else. Yet 74 percent of infections come from home gatherings. Restaurants are not the biggest spreader here.

“If they measured out your square footage and said: 'You’ve got 1,000 square feet in here, so don’t have any more than 10 tables', and take the other 20 tables out of the restaurant, at least go back to some normalcy.”

George Mousis, the Athena Café's general manager, said: “ I would say what I feel and say what would be manageable, and allow for 50 percent indoors spread out across the floor. Every table should be six feet apart. Just a 50 percent occupancy for indoor dining. I think we can get that. Let’s get that.”

"The hotels have indoor dining and a few restaurants that locals go to eat in, but start us with the 50 percent of capacity dining and see how that goes. Make sure that social distancing is applied and follow the rules. Everything should be at least in a better situation.”