We read it last week, a large number of restaurateurs, associations and suppliers took out their pens and sent a message to François Legault asking for the dining rooms to be reopened. Another voice joins their camp, that of the mayor of Lévis Gilles Lehouillier, while other restaurateurs are more cautious when it comes time to talk about reopening.
First of all, Lehouillier would agree to reopening the dining rooms in the red zone if and only if the sanitary instructions are strictly observed. If only one of these is not respected in a business, it will have to close automatically.
According to him, penalizing an entire economic sector is a mistake that will have to be corrected in the near future. Rather, he proposes to close recalcitrant establishments that take health measures lightly.
Le Journal de Québec interviewed restaurateurs in the region following comments made by the mayor and there is no consensus.
On the one hand, if there is a reopening, the owners want the instructions to be the same as during the deconfinement in June. They admit to having handled these novelties very well and to be able to do it again.
On the other hand, reopening comes at a cost. Then if the business gets caught and has to close because of a simple mistake, the economic consequences would be severe.
Finally, will the clientele be there? Will she dare to go to the dining room or will she prefer to follow the government's recommendations and avoid any non-essential outing?
Other managers offer another alternative: a curfew. Exactly as France imposed two weeks ago. There, all day until 9 p.m., it is possible to eat in the dining room for a maximum of six people per table. After this time, the curfew is imposed until 6 a.m.
According to François Meunier of the Association Restauration Québec, this will keep open the dining rooms and restaurants specializing in breakfasts to serve their specialty, to those who offer daily specials to continue to do so and even to those who do not. are not open for lunch to start doing so.
However, the Quebec government does not seem to want to institute a curfew for the moment.