Mr Mikes restaurant (photo by Shane Clausing)

By Shane Clausing

Alberta Reopening

Local restaurants gear up for province wide reopening

May 12, 2020 | 8:49 AM

Restaurants in Grande Prairie are gearing up for the first phase of the provinces re-opening plan on May 14.

Cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars will be allowed to reopen to the public as of Thursday with seating at 50 per cent capacity.

Ahead of the May 14 opening date, restaurants around the city are gearing up to look a little different than we are used to.

Brad Richards, General Manager of Mr. Mikes in Grande Prairie, says his restaurant is taking all sorts of precautions in order to create a safe dining experience.

“We’re going to do it (open) in stages, dining room and then open up the urban lodge up a week later. Our capacity is 160 people in the dining room site, so that’ll be 80 people max, and that includes staff. We’ll be sitting every other table and we haven’t gotten clear direction from the province on how big a table size would be but were looking at a maximum of six people.”

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“Were supposed to follow the double wipe system, wash the tables and then disinfect them, and we have to figure out where to put plexiglass on our bar side.”

Richards added that his restaurant is still trying to find disinfectant products so his restaurant can stay as clean as possible. The products have been hard to come by because of the increased demand.

While many are looking forward to seeing restaurants re-open on May 14, Richard says that he’s going to open his later than other, to make sure everything is good to go by opening day. He estimates that he’ll be able to open his doors around May 20.

Richards says that during the closure, his restaurant has been able to get by thanks to people ordering food online.

He adds that Mr. Mikes usually slows down in the summer as the weather gets warmer and people begin to do yard work and barbeque in their backyards.

Richard says that they’re taking the process day by day.

“We’re just working hard to figure out all the details, it’s a learning experience for the whole industry and the world.”