Red Deer restaurants lose sight of extra sales on UCP voting day

Brennen Wowk, owner of Bo’s Bar & Stage in Red Deer, says he was disappointed with the announcement and the “win” it could have been for businesses and the city overall.

“It would have been people checking out new businesses for the first time. All these things are great things when you’re trying to show people how special Red Deer is,” he said. “We have a lot of great operators in this city and a lot of great people that are doing some really amazing things. It just would have been a good time to showcase.”

Wowk describes how lunch and dinner reservations have already begun cancelling and wondered not only for the restaurant industry, but the impact on local hotels.

“I think about the hotels a lot. Those hotels would have been taking those bookings and would be taking some losses there without having their rooms filled,” he said.

Sandy Nesbitt, Manager for Hash Breakfast Eatery & Forno Italian, is surrounded by six hotels in the north end. Initially hearing the news of an in-person event, he says he saw a lot of positives for the local economy.

“It would probably fill up the hotels and give us an extra bump in sales. On the weekends we’re generally very busy anyway but it’s always nice to see everybody flourish,” he said.

Open until midnight, Nesbitt says he expected a rush of customers staying in his restaurant for longer.

“I think it would have impacted tremendously. Our average table, average cheque, is $45 or something so each person that comes in the restaurant is another $45 and some restaurants the average cheque is higher,” said Nesbitt.

At a press conference Thursday at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, UCP MLAs and their constituency association presidents questioned why the location for the vote wasn’t moved to Red Deer’s Westerner Park upon discovering the hotel would not meet capacity.

Mike Olesen, CEO of Westerner Park, confirmed that discussions have taken place in potentially using the location.

“It’s certainly possible to hold it here. With the process they would use for voting, you just do the math, it’d still be a very high volume of people through here from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. How they’d process it all isn’t my concern, but from an overall square footage perspective, and taking into account the availability of parking, it’d be a busy day, but we could handle it,” he said.

Olesen also says they would need to work closely with the party to ensure proper scheduling and staff hiring, especially if the number of registrants increases.

Wowk, also the Vice-President of the Alberta Hospitality Association, describes how the industry as a whole could have used the energy from an influx of visitors after two difficult years.

“They want to see people spending money and supporting industries that have been heavily affected by this pandemic,” he said.

While the move to Westerner Park remains in the air, all the industry can do is wait.

“Anytime a large event comes to Red Deer I’m excited for the effects of it and it would be great. If it doesn’t happen, then that’s unfortunate but I understand,” said Nesbitt.

Even so, Wowk urges Albertans to not waste an opportunity for a fun weekend, and to visit the city anyway.

“I would encourage those people who were potentially thinking about visiting Red Deer to check out restaurants, stay in hotels, to consider making a weekend adventure and check out what this great city has to offer,” he said.

rdnewsNOW reached out to the Cambridge Red Deer Hotel & Conference Centre but did not hear back for comment.

by Alessia Proietti and Josh Hall

Red Deer restaurants lose sight of extra sales on UCP voting day

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