SASKATOON -- A Saskatoon restaurant owner says she’s on board with restaurateurs receiving financial help if they need it during the COVID-19 pandemic - but also believes the industry needs to adapt to a new way of operating.

“It seems like we were headed towards a collapse anyways, and so I look at this as kind of like the great levelling,” said Christie Peters, who owns The Hollows and Primal. She has had to lay off as many as 50 staff.

“I’ve just been watching our industry struggle with these small independent businesses, having trouble paying their staff enough, or making enough money and the profit margins are just so thin.”

Dale MacKay owns and operates three restaurants in Saskatoon: Ayden Kitchen & Bar, Sticks and Stones, Little Grouse on the Prairie, as well as Avenue Restaurant in Regina.

“Two to three months of negative business or down business can sink you,” he said. “Or if you’re already behind on bills, are you going to be able to re-open without a lot of support?”

Co-founder of the advocacy group SaveHospitalityCA John Sinopoli says it’s a $90 billion per year industry in Canada. They’re projecting a 50 to 70 per cent failure rate in the industry, and are looking for “somewhere in the neighbourhood” of $10 billion from the government in financial support.

He warns a collapse in the hospitality industry could have a have a major economic impact down the road.

“If that doesn’t happen, and 50 per cent of our workforce goes without work in three or four months, that is 500,000 to 600,000 employees in the country. And the economic downside down the road far outweighs the initial short-term pain that the government would feel by having to front us that cash.”

The group is asking for financial aid in three areas: an immediate stay on April rent payments, supplemental EI benefits for workers in large cities where the cost of living is higher, and providing forgivable loans to restaurants to allow them to pay rent, bank interest, guarantee benefits for laid off employees, and enough capital to restart their businesses.

He disagrees with Peters’ assessment of the industry.

“To just say that we’re going to let everyone fail and see what happens, you’re saying ‘I don’t care about all the people that work for these people, the owners who spent 15 years building a profitable business, and now are just in a position of failure through no fault of their own,’ because this crisis created a situation where we just can’t gather in rooms together.”

Peters said restaurateurs need to realize that the industry is forever changed and they need to adapt.

“We can’t just re-open our businesses the way they were. That’s crazy. The world is going to be forever changed because of this, no one’s going to want to go into a crowded restaurant for a long time now. We’re going to have to be shifting to do more delivery, or more takeout, or selling more offsale booze, or making money in other ways.

“That’s just what you need to do. If you’re not doing that, yeah you’re going to need some help.”

Peters hopes the foundation of the industry coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic is more stable.

“We’re going to make it,” she said. “We’re going to slowly build as we can hire back more staff. As we make more money with the Skip-the-Dishes, we’re just pivoting the way we need to go to stay in business.”