The owner of a popular Greek restaurant in Windsor is looking forward to reopening his doors again for indoor dining.
Nick Pontikis owns Thanasi's Olympus Greek Restaurant on Tecumseh Road East near Hall Avenue and says the pandemic has affected his restaurant and the entire hospitality industry.
"We've been operating at a loss for 16 months, maybe more, so this is such welcome news to know that we're able to open for indoor dining on Friday and we've been given of five or six days to prepare for this," says Pontikis.
Since April, Pontikis' restaurant has only been doing takeout so he says his staff is ready to go.
"My chefs, my cooks, the kitchen people have been with me for a minimum of 20 years so I have that advantage over other food establishments," he adds. "I will have to replace some of the front of house staff and maybe some kitchen help as far as dishwashers and food prep."
if another lock down happens, Pontikis says it will be devastating to the restaurant industry, adding "Our emphasis right now is to make sure that indoor dining remains as safe as ever and both for our customers and for our staff."
Pontikis says his restaurant has two rooms, the red room and the blue room. He says the blue room is licensed for 127 guests but with COVID-19 restrictions, it goes down to about 60 people. The red room is licensed for 90 guests but will be down to roughly 40 people with restrictions.
As AM800 news reported last week, the province is moving to Step 3 of its reopening plan Friday, which includes indoor dining.