INNISFAIL – Agostin Nika loves his workplace, adores his customers and staff, but now he has to shut down his beloved Boots and Barrels Restaurant and Bar for the second time this year.
COVID of course is the villain, but he’s not taking shots at anybody or even the virus. His attitude remains sky high. In fact, he is already preparing his popular Main Street eatery and pub for reopening in mid-January, or longer if that’s the case.
“I believe things happen for a reason, and we are just going to suck it up, be positive and work hard. That’s what I do, that’s what I believe,” said Nika, an Innisfailian for the past 10 years who originally hails from Albania. Last week on Dec. 10, two days after the province announced restaurants, pubs, bars, lounges and cafes must be closed beginning Dec. 13 to in-person customers for at least 28 days, he emphasized he will come back “100 per cent” to reopen his business, which includes a 129-seat bar and 60-seat patio, no matter how long the shutdown lasts.
“Even now I don’t think of home. I am here every day. When I was locked down the first time, I was here cleaning my place, doing the kitchen stuff, getting everything prepared to open again,” said Nika, who has proudly owned his business since March of 2019.
When Nika was forced to shut down last March, it was for two months. He had to lay off all 15 employees. He still had to pay rent on his building. He lost an additional $25,000, largely from stock that spoiled.
“The beers that are in the bottles and cans can survive,” he said, noting he also has six kegs with each having a total volume equal to 300 beers. “Some are full, some are at 80 per cent, and some at 40. When I close down, with all these beers in them, they will go out of date.
“If I open a keg today, in two weeks that keg is going to go (bad),” he added. “Back in the kitchen you’ve got lettuce, you have tomatoes and cucumbers, all the veggies and all the stuff in the fridge. They will go off. They will last 10 days maximum. They will all go in the bin.
“Of course, you will lose money.”
But he persevered the first time. He reopened, hiring back his employees. Business became good again, but then the pandemic started to fire up, and now he has to close again.
“It is what it is and we are doing our best. Even me, now seven months (since first lockdown) I am doing very well. I have 15 people working here,” he said, knowing he will once again have to lay off his staff.
“Just like in March, it will be the same thing. I have to lay them all off and they have to claim EI. That is how it is. There is nothing I can do.”
As for the losses he expects to be hit from the second shutdown? He says it will all depend on how long the lockdown lasts.
In the meantime, Nika said last week he had not yet had the time to look into government grants for financial support, but he does plan to soon sit down with his accountant to talk about what is available, and how federal and provincial COVID assistance programs work.
One thing he won’t do, however, is sit around and mope.
“I do not feel sorry for myself. You have to work this out. I know it is tough. I don’t care,” he said. “I have been to too many places. Life doesn’t scare me.”
