Saskatoon restaurant owner finds lack of provincial mandate on proof of vaccination for staff 'confusing'

SASKATOON -

The province’s proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test mandate is causing confusion for some restaurant owners as the directive doesn't apply to its workers.

Co-owner of Saskatoon’s Yard & Flagon Pub, Ryan Grills, says he supports a proof of vaccination mandate, and save for a few out-of-province pieces of identification or QR code instances, says the process has been relatively smooth.

“Coming into a restaurant or bar and having everyone vaccinated in theory should give people a lot more of a sense of safety,” he said.

Grills says he doesn’t understand the province’s lack of mandate on restaurant employees.

“It does make it confusing, I do think it's strange that as a customer you have to show proof of vaccination, but as an employee, theoretically you can be unvaccinated,” he said.

“I do think that that's quite confusing and doesn't make a lot of sense.”

In a statement, the province says it introduced The Employers' COVID-19 Emergency Regulations, which would enable employers such as restaurants to implement policies requiring employees to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test, and that they’re encouraged to do so.

Grills says more information and more of a clear path for restaurant owners would have been beneficial, but added he understands the fluidity of the pandemic could make it difficult to institute mandates.

“They've kind of given each individual restaurant the opportunity to kind of somewhat make their own rules and,” said Grills.

“My staff are either all vaccinated or showing proof of a negative test every 72 hours and I think, from what I've heard, most restaurants are very similar to that."

PROS AND CONS FOR STAFF

President and CEO of the Saskatchewan Hotel & Hospitality Association Jim Bence says the restaurant industry continues to face staffing shortages, and putting the decision on whether or not to require proof of vaccination on owners is a plus.

“Quite frankly, I think many [restaurant owners] are glad that there's an option,” he said. “They can work with their employees who are adamant that they don't want to be vaccinated, but they're willing to provide the negative antigen tests.”

“It's allowing operators the ability to at least be able to negotiate with their staff, so that they can keep people behind the grill or out friend serving guests.”

But, he says, the proof of vaccination mandate has had negative affects on the industry.

“We've had one operator in a rural area, it only really needs about eight staff for morning and afternoon, evenings, and he was down to three. Two of them had quit on the spot on the same day when the announcement came out,” he said.

“[The restaurant owner said] ‘Look, you don't have to, we can work something out, this is a mandate for customers, it's not for employees, we can find a middle ground’, and they said no. It didn't matter.”

Bence says it’s definitely had an impact on revenues as well—a result of people’s unwillingness to provide proof or a lack of understanding on how to provide it.

“We've heard reports that it's part of protests from some folks that are unvaccinated, saying ‘You know what, I'm just not going to do this,’” he said.

“I think when you look at even the QR codes and those types of things, there's a certain percentage of our demographic that just don't like that. They don't like it because they're not familiar with it, right, so to get on the computer and navigate that or to get the QR code—some folks don't even have phones.”

Grills says it’s been a little easier for businesses to find employees with an influx of students returning to classes at the University of Saskatchewan, and reminds patrons that despite no proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 tests in restaurants, his restaurant remains a safe space.

“Places are still continuing to sanitize and follow all the protocols that we followed during COVID and when things were a lot more strict,” he said.

“Hopefully everyone's still wanting to support local and wants to feel safe about coming to restaurants and bars, and I think now that should be more the case than ever.”