Thunder Bay – The hospitality sector has been hit hard by COVID-19. Hotels and restaurants have lost business. With the provincial lockdown, the hospitality sector has seen the Christmas holiday season and New Years literally wiped out.
The pandemic has people staying home. It has people using delivery services to get food delivered, which could be helping, but there is a large cost to restaurants for that service.
Many restaurants are doing everything they can to provide you with as great a dining experience as possible with delivery or pickup.
Wild Thyme in The Hub Bazaar in the heart of downtown Fort William at 507 Victoria Avenue East has a couple of advantages. A pick-up window was installed so that during the lockdown, people could still get food.
Starting on February 20th, for Saturday nights, Wild Thyme is going hard core at a Thunder Bay favourite, rib dinners. The pick-up meals are in addition to the regular delicious offerings.
Having a Heart at Bay Village Coffee
At Bay Village Coffee, located at 221 Bay Street, Gary Mack has been busy doing many things to keep the company going full tilt.
If you have not had the cupcakes from Bay Village Coffee… our advice is pretty simple… do it.
In February, get yourself down to Bay Village to get your Heart Shaped Cookies.
Bay Village Coffee will be baking and selling heart shaped sugar cookies for the month of February in support of the Our Hearts at Home campaign, which is improving cardiac care here in the north. Cookies will be sold for $5 each with $2.50 going to the fundraiser.
Late last year we lost our dear friend, Patti Hobbs, to a heart attack. We are doing this fundraiser in honour of Patti whose daughter Shannon works as a baker with us at Bay Village Coffee.
Across Thunder Bay, and across Western and Northern Ontario, the small independent businesses in the hospitality sector need your support.
We are all in this pandemic together, and it will be by helping each other and focusing on the good in our city and region that will be come through as strong as possible.
Remember too, there are many really amazing restaurants in our city.
Check them out and enjoy.
James Murray
