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Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Rules for patios in Toronto mean people can eat inside restaurant if it starts raining

Rules for bar and restaurant patios reopening in Toronto were just released, and with many patios across the city opening for the first time today, the rules surrounding rain can be a tad misty.

"In the event of rain, patrons may shelter indoors while food is packaged for take-out, food pickup, payment, washroom access, access required to get to the outdoor dining area, or access that is otherwise required for the purposes of health and safety," the City said in a statement. 

"Rainfall is not an exception to the prohibition on dine-in food and beverage consumption. Patrons should practice physical distancing while waiting for food to be packaged for take-out."

Most bars and restaurants hoping to open their patios right now have to figure out regulations which say patios have to be "open to the air" with "no tents, structures or canopies" though umbrellas are allowed. Despite the potential loophole of having customers inside restaurants while it's raining, restaurants don't desire to take advantage of it.

"We have set our patio as best we can with umbrellas to help with light rain," says Sara Roberts of Rebel House. "People will try to find loop holes but this will only set us back farther and possibly increase the cases. We must adhere to proper distancing stipulations if we want to get back to normal faster."

"We won't be using these guidelines as a loop hole to seat the inside of our restaurant if it's raining, but it's kind of a double standard, is it not?" says Mitch Macdougall of Score, which has locations in Toronto and Vancouver.

"What happens on a rainy day? Restaurants are back to doing takeout basically, and staff scheduled to work may lose their shifts. We're just crossing our fingers this guideline will be lifted sooner rather than later."

They were "surprised when the Ontario government decided to start with outdoor dining areas only" as they had originally been planning on opening indoors and outdoors, basing their layout on Score in Vancouver, which was allowed to open in mid-May.

"We're lucky enough to have awnings covering half of our massive patio, so we can still operate with a few tables if the weather isn't in our favour. On a sunny day, if weather turns, we have tables spaced out inside to safely seat all of our guests who choose to move inside," says Macdougall.

"We will only be allowing guests to move inside if they are already dining on the patio. If it starts to rain and there's a line outside, we aren't able to provide shelter or let anyone inside. As for a time limit, the guidelines are pretty vague. All we can do is provide every guest with a safe place to enjoy their experience until the sky clears."


by Amy Carlberg via blogTO

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