Regina City Hall is back in the restaurant business after opening a brand new cafeteria this week.

It’s open to the public and was also paid for by the public. The city hasn’t disclosed exactly how much taxpayers had to pay for the newest eatery in downtown Regina.

The restaurant is part of a $4.7 million renovation to city hall’s main floor. The funds were approved in the 2013 budget. The city hasn’t been able to provide the breakdown of how much the cafeteria itself cost.

Kaitlynn McArthur works at Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan and often frequents downtown restaurants. She has a new option with the City Hall Cafeteria, but it will depend on the menu.

“If there (are) healthy options and I guess if there (are) cheaper options,” she said.

The City Hall Burger costs $5.99. The amount of revenue from food sales going back into the city is unknown.

The cafeteria is operated by Compass – a private catering company.

“We did publicly procure that service,” Jamie Hanson, manager of facilities engineering with the city, said. “There were requirements as far as revenue-sharing back to the city to offset our operating costs.”

The mayor was unavailable for an interview on Thursday.

Before the new cafeteria opened on Wednesday, city hall employees had four restaurants within a two-block radius of their building. Walking a few more blocks opened up even more options.

“There (are) other options available,” McArthur said. “I don’t know if that’s the best. I don’t think it’s necessary.”

Others in the area agreed that they would rather go somewhere else for their lunch breaks.

“I go to places, fresh places, fresh sandwich places,” Stephanie Burton said. “I don’t know if I would hang out by the city hall.”

“I try and stay away from places with a really big crowd like that,” Marilyn Baron said.

The provincial government is considering tendering out food services for the dining room it has operated in the legislative building since 1912. That cafeteria lost $33,000 in 2016 and $39,000 in 2017.

The province has closed all other government-owned cafeterias, mainly due to a lack of profitability.

It’s still not known how much revenue the city will receive from Compass or how much compass is paying the city to rent the space.

Based on a report by CTV Regina's Colton Wiens