Owners of bars and pubs try a variety of ideas to avoid passing for “Nazis” among their party customers while ensuring that the rules of social distancing are respected.
“Wash your hands. We know where they were before … ”This is one of the 10 fun commands of the Dirty D bar, located in the heart of Quartier Dix30, on the South Shore.
“These are the 10 things you have to repeat every five minutes,” says co-owner Manny Vides. In some night clubs, we even go so far as to impose the wearing of face covers.
At Dirty D, there are no longer any dance floors or salsa lessons. But the area of the terrace has practically doubled and you can taste authentic tacos and margaritas.
And since customers must consume seated, the bar has created a system of stamps to ensure that customers stay in their section.
” Half half “
“It’s really half and half. On the one hand, we are congratulated […]. People are even more generous in tips than before, ”notes Mr. Vides.
But a large part of the clientele tends to complain or rate the establishment badly on social networks, especially when the maximum capacity is reached due to social distancing.
“There are some who say:” Well, I want to come in. ” “I will return to such a place, where I will be respected,” illustrates Mr. Vides.
Since their reopening, several bar owners have been caught between two contradictory roles: that of party provider where you can let go of your crazy person, and that of guardians of sanitary rules.
“Your whole life you have been in hospitality […] And there the customers [nous] take for Nazis. It’s untenable, ”exclaims Jean-Sébastien Michel, owner of the Alkademie experimental bar in Montreal.
The owners are “left to themselves”, criticizes one who believes that the government should make specific awareness to the customers of bars. “Because there, it is the establishments which take care which are thrown rocks”, he summarizes.
100% terrace
This is why he has gathered around fifteen tenants who are keen to do things well so that they can share their good ideas.
Many bet entirely on their terrace, which has been enlarged thanks to the pedestrianization of numerous streets.
Photo Dominique Scali
Bar owners, like Philippe Haman, are worried about the difficulties in enforcing sanitary measures and fear that the recalcitrant will ring the end of their reopening.
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“This is what saved us,” says Philippe Haman, owner of La Distillerie, on Mont-Royal Avenue, in the metropolis.
At the L’Amère à potable pub in Saint-Denis, exit the benches where customers can find themselves crowded: they must sit on large individual chairs.
“We have taken a lot of measures to avoid this, rather than having to try to change behavior,” explains owner René Guindon.
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