Restaurants Canada wants you to share your pandemic story

Anticipating a federal election campaign starting late in August, Restaurants Canada is ramping up advocacy efforts on behalf of restaurants and it wants to hear from restaurants like you about how the pandemic has affected your business and life.

The organization has started to meet with key government officials, and the Opposition, to reinforce our needs for extended support for our hardest-hit sector – notably in regards to CEWS and CERS (with a request to reverse the phase-out of these subsidies), as well as our industry relaunch recommendations.

Restaurants Canada representatives are working on a weekly basis with key ministries (Tourism, Economic Development, Small Business, Finance, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, CRA, to only name a few) in order to make sure restaurants receive their fair share out of all programs available to support businesses. In addition, we are ensuring that our priorities and recommendations are seen as their priorities, as the election campaign is coming and civil servants within these ministries will remain in place and will present briefings and recommendations to the newly elected government.

President Todd Barclay said in a statement, “As we develop and refine our advocacy objectives, we are looking for you to help us amplify voices in the food-service community by submitting a video telling us how the pandemic has impacted your business and life.”

Restaurants Canada wants you to tell them in video format:

• How many days has dining been shut down for your business?
• How many staff did your business employ before the pandemic and how have they been impacted by this crisis?
• How is your business being impacted by the federal rent and wage subsidies rolling back this summer?

Submit your video here.

The organization’s Restaurant Survival Coalition will share these videos on social media to help shine a light on the support that restaurants continue to need as they recover from the COVID-19 crisis, and we will leverage these stories in discussions with government as we advocate for continued sector-specific support.