The Ottawa Star

Top Menu

  • Archives
  • Les Actualités
  • Sexy Pages
  • Meet Locals

Main Menu

  • News
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Business
  • Aliens
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Real Estate
  • Foodie
  • Health
  • Video
  • Archives
  • Contact Us
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login
  • Archives
  • Les Actualités
  • Sexy Pages
  • Meet Locals

logo

Header Banner

The Ottawa Star

  • News
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Business
  • Aliens
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Real Estate
  • Foodie
  • Health
  • Video
  • Archives
  • Contact Us
  • GARRIOCH: Craig Anderson has moved on from the Ottawa Senators to another nation’s capital

  • Average Ottawa home prices jumped 20% in 2020: OREB

  • Adam: The silver linings of 2020

  • Opinion: A wealth tax would pay for three days of Ottawa’s spending

  • Hardware stores, outdoor adventures and Asian food: Google data reveals Ottawa’s pandemic habits

News
Home›News›‘A grave situation’: Ottawa restaurants scramble to stay afloat in the wake of COVID-19

‘A grave situation’: Ottawa restaurants scramble to stay afloat in the wake of COVID-19

By admin
March 18, 2020
195
0
Share:

Jason McLelland opened his tiny restaurant Grunt almost a year ago in Mechanicsville with noble intentions. In addition to running a viable business, McLelland wanted to help lift up Grunt’s hard-scrabble neighbourhood and its residents, offering free cooking classes and even the occasional free meal if such charity was warranted.

But as of Tuesday, Grunt was one of the innumerable small Ottawa-area businesses to be hobbled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with all other Ottawa’s restaurants, Grunt won’t be serving customers in its dining room until further notice. McLelland’s livelihood will take a big blow after Ottawa Public Health on Monday afternoon accepted the recommendation by Ontario’s chief medical officer of health that all restaurants, bars, theatres and entertainment venues should close temporarily to help limit the spread of the virus. The Ontario recommendation brings the province in line with comparable decisions in Quebec and elsewhere in North America and Europe.

“It’s going to be very, very hard,” McLelland said in an interview. He counted himself lucky that his restaurant has a very small staff of just himself, his wife and one other worker. “But I still have bills on different days each week in a calendar month,” he said.

The provincial recommendation does allow restaurants to scale back their operations to prepare food for take-out and delivery purchases, and McLelland says Grunt will go that route.

“But I have to make sure I’m not a part of the spread of this virus,” McLelland said. “People’s safety is all I’m really thinking about.”

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ottawa sat at 13 as of Tuesday morning. Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa’s medical officer of health, had said on Sunday that hundreds of residents could be infected in the city as she appealed to people to stay home and strictly limit their social gatherings and practise social distancing.

(Visited 11 times, 1 visits today)
Previous Article

Some Ottawa restaurants and businesses close,reduce hours ...

Next Article

Hydro Ottawa extending winter disconnection ban, suspending ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Related articles More from author

  • News

    ‘Ottawa’ Ottawa Colouring Book ‘Total Love Letter’ to Capital

    May 9, 2016
    By admin
  • News

    Police Break up South-End Brawl Sunday

    May 23, 2016
    By admin
  • News

    ‘Ottawa’ Pilieci: Is Gatineau Park Really Creating a $241 Million Economic Impact?

    April 6, 2017
    By admin
  • News

    ‘Ottawa’ Deputy Chief Apologizes After Calling Ottawa Patrol Officers ‘Canine Fornicators’

    December 5, 2016
    By admin
  • News

    The Future of Payday Loans in Canada

    February 27, 2016
    By admin
  • News

    ‘Ottawa’ OPP, Coroner, Probe Death of Four-year-old Wendover Boy

    December 30, 2016
    By admin


Advertisements


AirBNB


Popular on The Ottawa Star

  1. AgoraCosmopolitan
  2. Agora Publishing Consortium
  3. Le Journal Canadien
  4. Dominion: Food News
  5. LeCanadian.com
  6. The Ottawa Star
  7. Capitalistocracy.com
  8. Trudeausociety.com
  9. OttawaRestaurantGoers.com
  10. Toronto Business Journal
  11. Blogpei.ca
  12. Synergeticsgroup.ca
  13. Happyhomeinc.ca
  14. JournaldeGatineau.ca
  15. OttawaBusinessDaily.ca
  16. AgoraBooks.ca
  17. Thenextweb.ca
  18. BBW Singles
  19. Transgender Singles
  20. Montreal Business Journal
  21. Astroglossary.ca
  22. New York and New Jersey Business Journal
  23. Ottawa Book Expo - Salon du Livre d'Ottawa
  24. TorontoBook Expo - Salon du Livre d'Toronto
  25. Vancouver Business Journal

Popular ARTICLES

  • Ottawa launches public co... The federal government is launching public consultatio...
  • Average Ottawa home price... Ottawa’s red-hot residential real estate market saw no...
  • Four Popular Basketball C... What do you do when you miss your favorite sport? You...
  • Travel industry disappoin... CALGARY - Canada's travel industry is reacting with di...
  • Wastewater testing for ne... Ottawa researchers are racing against the clock to ide...
  • That was then: Voting irr... A regular weekly look-back at some offbeat or interest...
  • Opinion: A wealth tax wou... The NDP can salivate all it wants over the prospect of...
  • Hardware stores, outdoor... While 2020 was a year of hardship for many, it was als...
  • Ottawa Public Library bri... January 12 will see live online children’s programming...
  • GARRIOCH: Craig Anderson... Everything was different in 2020, and in Craig Anderso...
  • News
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Business
  • Aliens
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Real Estate
  • Foodie
  • Health
  • Video
  • Archives
  • Contact Us