Since Stage 2 of reopening was announced for much of the province weeks ago, plenty of people have been itching to get onto a restaurant patio or get their haircut.
But opening for business again isn't going to ease much of the financial burden for restaurant owners.
Julian Parentela owns Yo Amo Tacos on Steeles Avenue and Islington. The restaurant is getting ready to reopen its patio on Wednesday, even though they could have done so last Friday. Parentela says all of their customers have to be spaced just over a metre apart along with other distancing regulations.
"We have to make sure our tables are two metres apart, so we're just making sure we've got the proper space and capacity guidelines in place," he says. "From there we are training our staff, to make sure that everyone understands they have to wear masks, our chefs as well, our cooks."
He says it's not just renovations and reduced capacity that are going to continue creating financial struggles for restaurants.
"It's just the hard costs of the masks, the sanitizers, the gloves, it's all those little things, especially ones that have to be replenished like sanitizers, it's going to hurt the bottom line."
Parentela says in an ideal world, he'd want to see more help for restaurant owners.
"I would like to see, ideally, if they could cover all the hard costs for what we're going to have to buy to open such as sanitizer, gloves and masks," Parentela says. "That would be nice to have."