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Municipalities and the provincial liquor licensing branch could help by relaxing rules for more outside seating, said Gordon.

Restaurants run on notoriously tight profit margins and have been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 crisis. Many are expected to go bankrupt rather than re-open.

Those who have struggled to remain in business say federal programs to provide 75-per-cent wage subsidies, combined with an unusually high volume of takeout orders, have kept just enough cash flowing for operations to stay viable.

“Two of our three properties are doing 30 per cent of their regular revenue and one is doing 45 per cent of regular revenue just on takeout — which is very different than what we thought would happen,” said Gordon, adding he expects takeout to remain a strong part of business going forward.

“The other thing people don’t understand is that restaurants, on a busy Friday night, you are never going to have 100 per cent of your seats occupied — 80 per cent is the magic number. So when you are talking about going from 80 per cent to 50 per cent (capacity under social distancing) … it’s not going to be as lucrative, I don’t want to give you that impression. But I can certainly see getting through it a bit better.”

Gordon said smaller dining rooms could mean restaurants increase prices and shrink menus to focus on dishes with larger margins. It will also mean restaurateurs need to be innovative.

“It’s a very mathematical game,” said Gordon, who also owns the Steamship Grill in Victoria. “You have to consider doing things you haven’t done before. On Saturday, I was washing dishes. I run an $11-million company, and that’s what you’ve got to do.”