REGINA -- Although Saskatchewan restaurants are now allowed to reopen, some are facing some tough decisions following months of being closed to customers.

After being in downtown Regina for five years, The Capitol has closed. But the space, won’t be empty, the owners are creating a new restaurant inside.

“We are reopening The Capitol as sort of a Lancaster Local Burger,” co-owner of The Capitol, Tim Rogers said. “It’s a locally sourced burger bar that was supposed to open this spring and with everything, it will be pushed more to the fall now.”

Rogers said the last few years has been tough on the restaurant scene in the city. He said the first big change was in 2017 when the economy started slowing down, and then the next big hit was when the Provincial Government added PST to restaurant bills.

“Quite a few restaurants closed if you look back over the last few years,” Rogers said. “It’s been a tough go as it is and then I think when the virus hit, it was kind of the straw that broke the back.”

Rogers is also a co-owner of the Lancaster in south Regina that will open next week. He said he understands why the Government is only allowing restaurants to operate at 50 per cent capacity, but he just hopes financial supports for restaurants stay in place during this time.

“Nobody is going to be able to pay their bills at 50 per cent capacity unless we still have some of this assistance,” Rogers said. “I think our biggest concern, are we going to continue to be supported while being Limited to what we’re able to produce.”

Another restaurant in Regina to be confirmed closed is Tony Roma’s which has been a part of the community for two decades. The owner of the franchise said on Facebook:

“As the announcement of phase three has been made. We have our own announcement to make. Due to circumstances out of our control we will not be reopening. We would like to thank you for 20 years of support. We will miss you all!”

“Their margins are too thin to being with,” President and CEO of the Saskatchewan Hotels and Hospitality Association, Jim Bence said. “Opening at 50 per cent doesn’t allow them to make any kind of profit and as one operator put it, I’m rushing faster to bankruptcy by opening than I am closing.”

Bence said he estimates about 75 per cent of restaurants in the province opened on Monday and he hopes more open in the weeks ahead. But he said he wouldn’t be surprised if 10 per cent of restaurants in the province close during this time.

“I think that there will be more closures, hopefully that’s mitigated by consumer confidence of getting back out and buying local,” Bence said. “I think that it would be unreasonable to expect that everybody is going to make it through this, this is a really tough time.”