The last couple of months have proven to be a challenge for the Tower Café, 1124 Social House and Willy’s The Tap House, but it’s one that they have met with a commitment to their customers.
The restaurants, which are owned by the Sereggela family, have remained fairly busy, allowing them to keep 24 employees over the past two months. But like other businesses that have remained open, it’s been a time of adapting and changing to keep their employees, and to keep serving their customers.
“We’re just thrilled about the local support that we’ve gotten,” Peter Sereggela said in an interview with the Mercury.
The Tower Café has remained open for pickup within the restaurant. Curbside pickup is also now offered, and delivery continues to be an option.
“We’ve got great support from our local clients, and continued support from everybody. Even though the times are tough and we’re looking forward to putting this all behind us, we’re coping pretty well,” Sereggela said.
Normally the three restaurants would employ about 40 people, so some had to be laid off. About half of their current staff is in the kitchen, and they also have drivers and servers for pickup and curbside delivery.
And while the Tower is known for its pizza – voted Estevan’s best through the Estevan Mercury’s Best of Estevan competition – and other staple dishes, they have added something new in recent weeks.
They started a global culinary tour on Thursdays and Sundays. The first week was a Maritime feature, and the second one was a Taste of India, since they have several talented Indian chefs in their kitchen.
“It’s just gone over famously,” Sereggela said. “We actually ran out of product and sold out right near the end of the evening (Thursday), even though the boys had done a lot of prep.”
They have allowed their chefs to come up with different features from around the world, and when the restaurant opens up, it will likely be continued, whether it be on a weekly basis or a monthly rotation.
“I think one of the things that we’ve been trying to do during the entire pandemic is just to offer more,” he said.
A few of their dishes from the Taste of India might even stay on their menu.
Online ordering has grown in popularity since the pandemic hit. The service was added about 10 months before the arrival of COVID-19, and they would get about 15 to 20 orders a day, but in the last two months, it has grown to about 60-75 orders a day.
Since payment is available online, they get a lot of requests from people who want their food dropped off on the front step.
“We have some people who have come back from holidays, and they have to self-quarantine for two weeks, so they’ll use our online ordering and payment processing. They just ask us to leave the stuff at the front step.”
Sereggela is particularly pleased with how the staff members have handled the past two months. The restaurants have enacted a lot of different policies, with everything from the continuous washing of hands to taking temperatures when they come to work. If somebody isn’t feeling 100 per cent, they’re asked to not come in until they feel better.
“All of my staff has been tremendous. There are some staff who are just working part-time as well, but with all of the support that we’ve had from our staff, we’ve managed to keep our place open 12 hours a day.”
Customers have also adapted to the situation.
Restaurants and licensed establishments were included in Phase 3 of the Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan last week, allowing them to have up to 50 people inside. Patios will also be allowed to open again, which is good news for those who frequented the Tap House’s patio in its first year in 2019.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” said Sereggela. “We’re hoping that the numbers stay down as far as active cases and everything, especially down here in the south corner, because we’ve done such a good job.”
There will be restrictions, such as 50 per cent of their normal capacity, but he’s excited to get their employees back, and to get the restaurants ready to reopen.
“We’re confident that we have a large enough facility that we won’t have a problem making sure that we are spaced out, and all of our guests and our staff and our employees are safe, too.”
They recently remodelled the Tap House, so when people come in, they’ll enter a restaurant with a fresh look.
“I can’t wait for my customers and regulars to come in and see the place. We’re all excited to see each other.”
