If you’re anything like us, sitting on a patio soaking up the sun with a beer in hand is something you’ve been dreaming about over the last few months. Toronto restaurants reopening has been a mirage, always just out of reach, fading further away into the distance as we get closer – but now it’s finally coming into view.
On June 5, Mayor John Tory encouraged restaurants, along with personal services, to get ready to reopen. While the official date has yet to be announced, preparing now means restaurants won’t have to face more delays later as they get their establishments up to the new standards.
Led by Toronto Public Health, the City of Toronto has released guidelines for reopening restaurants, including limiting groups to six people or less, spacing tables six feet apart and operating at only 50 per cent capacity.
Outside of Toronto (save for Peel and Windsor), the rest of Ontario is already entering into Stage Two of the Ford government’s reopening plan. Restaurants have been allowed to reopen for outdoor dining with restrictions such as no dancing or singing on patios. (Are we in a remake of Footloose?)
Now we just have to wait for our turn.
Let’s not forget that before the COVID-19 crisis we sat (or more likely stood) through painfully slow TTC delays on the daily, waded through a sea of traffic after every sports game and spent Friday evenings lounging in gridlock. We are Torontonians, masters of patience.
