Market Insider By Scott Laurie 513 Views

Toronto bars, restaurants, stores 'ready to go'

It’s the day hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores have been eagerly awaiting.

Shane Ryan uses a power drill to make final adjustments to one of his patio picnic tables, as some of his 36 staff are in a mad scramble to get his tiny Beaches restaurant ready.

“Time to get to work!” the small business owner, who has survived the lockdowns because of takeout business and government assistance, said Thursday.

“It’s a great feeling knowing that it’s going to start up,” he said on his freshly built patio at Breakwall BBQ on Queen St. E.

As of one minute after midnight Friday, it’s a whole new world.

Among the rules for restaurants and bar patios is that they seat up to four people at a table, maintain six meters of physical distance between tables, and ensure way to contact trace customers just in case.

Toronto’s CafeTO program helped more than 800 businesses last summer. The city says that’s up to more than 1,000 this year.

It’s become an essential way to generate business by expanding outdoor seating onto the street. Especially since Ryan’s patio normally seats just 12 people.

“Knowing it was still available and coming back for this summer probably made the difference between staying open or not,” the young entrepreneur said.



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