After two years of struggling through pandemic restrictions, local restaurants and bars have a new hurdle to face: rising costs triggered by inflation.
“The challenges of the pandemic have been ongoing,” says Karen Brookes, who owns Cosmo’s Diner, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “Just the oil of my deep-fryer doubled [in price] so it’s just been so hard to watch and so hard to keep prices down.”
“It’s gone ridiculous,” Bez Pourrostam, the owner of Bezo’s Bar and Grill, tells ThoroldToday. “The profit margin is down. We have to constantly change the price of the menu and customers aren’t happy either.”
Brookes says she tried holding off on raising her prices for the longest time.
“We want to make sure that going out to eat is an affordable thing,” she says. “Because of the pandemic and because of the support that we’ve garnered throughout the community, we want to make sure that this diner is a community place. We’re really trying to make sure that prices are still within the realm. Families want to get out, they need to take a break, they want to get together.”
With the cost of living going up, going out is not that feasible for everybody anymore. Pourrostam says that Bezo’s Bar and Grill has seen less customers in recent months.
“They try to save as much money as they can,” Pourrostam says. “If they don’t have to go out and eat, they don’t go. It’s very hard.”
“It’s just so disheartening because we all need a break from cooking, being in our own house and we just want to get out,” adds Brookes.
The one thing Brookes is firm on is that she refuses to cut any corners in the face of the inflation.
“We’ve been through different recessions in the past and one thing we wanted to make sure is that we didn’t forego our portion and our quality of food that we buy,” says Brookes. “We buy a lot of local produce. We just made a conscious decision to not relinquish what we’re committed to.”
Pourrostam feels that the government is not doing enough to help keep small businesses stay afloat.
“You can’t get help for small businesses but if you’re corporate there’s all kind of help for you,” says Pourrostam. “The government is working for corporations, not for the people.”
Brookes is hopeful that just like the pandemic, this too shall pass.
“Am I trying to make more money than ever? No,” says Brookes. “I’m just trying to keep my head above water right now and I’m hoping that we can continue with that mentality that we’re all in it together as we move forward. Hopefully we can see a way out of all of this.”
