New housing Development opens for new university school year. PAGE 23 Rising star Nanaimo teen wins annual overall PNE singing showcase. PAGE 33 History made V.I. Raiders quarterback throws for the record books. PAGE 3
Racing to gold PAGE 32
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2012
VOL. 24, NO. 52
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Trio of factors behind closures Restaurateurs affected by high food prices, new liquor laws and harmonized sales tax BY TOBY GORMAN
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THE NEWS BULLETIN
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CHRIS BUSH/THE NEWS BULLETIN
High expectations Cpl. Norm Smith, left, and reserve constable Chris Fernandes, representing Nanaimo on this year’s Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock team, wave to passersby and the camera from their lofty perch at Port Place Shopping Centre. The riders spent Friday above the mall’s parking lot raising cash to fight childhood cancer with help from a hotdog sale put on by Coast Capital Savings and Thrify Foods. The payoff was $2,700 in donations.
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perfect storm of high food prices, new drinking and driving laws and the harmonized sales tax are putting the squeeze on downtown restaurants and causing some to close, says Peter Ertsos, owner of Diners Rendezvous. The restaurant closed its doors two weeks ago, just a few days after the Modern Café and the Dancing Goat coffee shop closed, leaving a growing culinary void in Nanaimo’s downtown. Ertsos said both restaurants and retail owners he’s talked to are having a tough time. “The biggest challenge I see is oil prices,” he said. “It has affected not only food costs but everything we’re buying lately. Everything is outrageously priced and it’s all due to transportation costs.” Ertsos, who has been in the restaurant business for 30 years, said he grew tired of working 14-hour days, seven days a week with little or no profit. When the province introduced tough new drinking and driving laws, Ertsos said he went from placing a $4,000 liquor order monthly to just an $800 order. Prior to that, food costs increased exponentially. In 2005, a nine-kilogram box of tortilla chips cost $18.76. Today the same item costs $36.
Everything is outrageously priced and it’s all due to transportation costs.
Last August, he said he paid $16.95 for a 11-kg case of bell peppers. In the winter months, that increases to more than $100. Food shortages and an imbalance in distribution in North America have prompted imports from Europe and Asia, further increasing prices. “The salad is still $7,” he said. With restaurant margins at a razor thin three to five per cent per plate, too much is piling up on owners to make a go of it, said Ertsos. Corry Hostetter, general manager at the Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association, said her interviews with downtown Nanaimo restaurant owners suggests a natural progression of change. ◆ See ‘OTHER’ /4
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