The owner of an Erie Street restaurant and lounge in Windsor is speaking out.
Vern Myslichuk owns Bacchus Ristorante and Verna-Q-Lar Cocktail Lounge and tells AM800 news, he was disappointed on Monday to hear Windsor-Essex would not be moving forward to stage two of the province's reopening plans.
"People say well it's not a big deal, it's not a big deal, well when you're in business, it's really a big deal and when it's four months that's a long stretch," says Myslichuk. "The first three, four, five weeks that was manageable, you know it's rough, it's rough. I think it's really rough on a lot of businesses."
Myslichuk says he has started doing takeout but it's not the same for a fine dining restaurant.
"It's not the business that we tried to create or tried to build or that we have built over the years and we're just staying open to stay open but by the time, we're just barely paying for the staff," he says.
"I am exhausted with the way that we sit right now and I understand that this is a serious scenario but again, I've built my whole life on math and the math doesn't indicate to me that we should be still closed.”
Myslichuk also owns Bettermade Cabinets and says 97 per cent of his staff at his three businesses are currently laid off.