RADHICA DE SILVA
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
While restaurant staff, cinema attendants and casino security guards had stringent checks of vaccination cards, no police or health inspectors were seen monitoring the rollout of safe zones at south establishments on Monday.
Restauranteurs who were interviewed reported a slow turnout of customers saying they hoped that in-door dining would pick up by the weekend.
There was also a limited turnout at cinemas but this picked up by the afternoon period. Casinos also had a higher turnout by late afternoon.
There was also a limited turnout at cinemas but this picked up by the afternoon period. Casinos had a poor turnout as well.
At the Rig Restaurant at South Trunk Road, La Romaine, manager Cyrus Sookoo said they were well prepared to accommodate their loyal, regular and even new customers. The venue is a popular liming spot during Champions League football and other major sporting events.
“We have everything in place and we are hoping that by the weekend things will pick up,” Sookoo said.
Many customers, he said, had called asking questions about how the safe zones will operate as they were still unclear about the stipulations. Curbside pickup and take-away service were continuing to do well even though indoor dining was not well subscribed, Sookoo added.
At De Galley Restaurant at the Yacht Club compound in San Fernando, businessman Nigel Khan and chief executive officer, Kerry Bishop came out to dine for lunch. “I feel safe and I have a lot of confidence that restauranteurs are practising safe zone protocols,” Khan said.
Manager at De Galley Restaurant Jason Aaron said there was still some ambiguity as to how the safe zones will function.
“As a business owner, I think a lot of the details are vague and the Ministry of Health need to put things in writing in terms of the restaurant capacity, when you should keep face masks on. Lots of people are asking how many days they have to wait after the second dose. Will digital copies of the vaccination cards be accepted at the restaurants. All of this still has to be clarified,” he explained.
At the 519 Restaurant at C3 Centre in San Fernando, a group of friends—Pauline Rawlins, Giselle Warren, Jaye Lee, Ayanna Baptiste, Brenda Singh and Shaun Dell- toasted to the reopening of indoor dining.
Kathleen Sammy, general manager of 519 Restaurant said they were pleased to reopen for indoor dining. “We have five tables inside and we are happy to welcome back our customers to 519 to dine.
“The lockdown had a negative impact. The curbside was slow but we did a lot of specials to encourage customers. We could not employ all the staff during the lockdown. All of our staff are vaccinated,” Sammy said.
Meanwhile, at Mau Pau casino at the South Trunk Road, La Romaine, there were only a few patrons. The car park at Royal Princess casino was also unusually empty when Guardian Media visited.
At Caribbean Cinemas 10 in Southpark, there were no lines at the cinemas.
At MovieTowne in C3, a few people came to purchase tickets.
Leah Sookhai told Guardian Media that she felt excited to be at the movies once again.
“Unfortunately we forgot our vaccine card so we have to go back home and get it. We are just going to buy our tickets now. We feel happy to be able to watch a movie,” Sookhai said.