Can small businesses survive COVID-19?

Food businesses around Ryerson University has seen a decline in foot traffic.

Video by Aidan Jonah

By Felecia Francis

Toronto–Creating a healthy and yet affordable restaurant in the heart of downtown Toronto sounds ideal, however when Sweet Po Vegan Eats opened in March they had no idea the pandemic would cause a complete lockdown.

“We had no idea that things were going to be shut down for quite so long, that things would be quite so serious.” Says Rob Lewin, Co-owner of Sweet Po.

Unfortunately for Lewin and the other co-owners of Sweet Po, when they put down their rent deposit the week before the lockdown began, they could not imagine that things would take a turn for the worst.

Now seven months into the pandemic, Lewin is unsure if his business will be able to continue.

While they have modified the way they do business by doing delivery, he says this is not sustainable because delivery services like UberEats charges a high percentage on each order.

Lost Moments

Ryerson students say they are missing out on many opportunities, as they may never get to experience many of these restaurants who may not be in business by September 2021 due to a continuous decline.

Businesses around the university will continue to see a reduction in foot traffic if measures are not put in place to ensure a safe in-door dining experience. 

Ryerson will not open in January  for in-person learning.

FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE

To help small businesses like Sweet Po Vegan Eats, there must be a balance between safety and the need for people to interact outside of their households.

Aziz Guergachi, a professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management  at Ryerson believes that there must be a balance between safety and keeping the economy going.

“I think we should be able to manage this pandemic effectively without locking people in their home,” he says “you can follow CDC guideline and let people conduct their business and interact with each other.”

One thing is for sure, many small businesses will not survive COVID-19 while others will overcome these challenges and cross the finish line. 

Small businesses can survive COVID-19, but how they survive it we will have to wait to see.

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