Kamloops restaurants throwing away thousands of dollars worth of food after last-minute shutdown of indoor dining

KAMLOOPS — The fridge at Harold’s Restaurant is stocked with everything it needs. The only problem is, it can’t be open following new health orders announced on Monday.

“We purchased huge amounts of product for this long weekend, and all of a sudden Monday afternoon they tell us we’re closed that night midnight,” noted co-owner Manny Mattis. “So what do we do with all the product that we have in our coolers, and all prepared? Thousands of dollars worth.”

In total, Harold’s Restaurant purchased $5,000 worth of food right before Dr. Bonnie Henry ordered all indoor dining to shut down at midnight on Tuesday.

Most of the food at Harold’s will have to be thrown out, as the restaurant only offers in-person dining. Co-owner Manny Mattis is upset they weren’t given more notice to change course.

“If they had’ve notified us on Friday, and it was a very busy weekend, we probably could’ve used up a lot of our product we had already, and we wouldn’t be in such a jam as we are now,” he said.

The restaurant plans to donate as much as it can to the food bank. With no patio, Harold’s in Valleyview is completely shut down for the next three weeks.

Iron Road Brewing is in a similar spot with no outdoor space to serve. With no indoor dining, business will be down up to 65 per cent.

“The restaurant represents half of our business in terms of revenue,” said Iron Road Brewing co-owner Jared Tarswell. “And then we serve our beer in lots of restaurants around town and they’re all in the same boat that we are.”

As a result, Iron Road was forced to lay off 25 employees on Tuesday, representing 80 per cent of their workforce.

The brewery will continue to make beer and sell it at liquor stores and also re-introduce delivery service.

“We did deliveries last time — beer deliveries to homes — so we’re going to start that again and try and soften the blow as much as we can, but everything goes on pause,” said Tarswell.

Back at Harold’s, they can appreciate the predicament government is in around COVID-19, but at the same time they wish the process was a little more business-friendly.

“I just don’t think this government has any idea how to run a business and what it takes to run a business. They really missed the boat on this one,” said Mattis.