The business owner who kick-started the idea of having an outdoor eating area was excited to hear that council gave second and third readings to the Sidewalk Café and Sales bylaw on May 9.
Garnet Greipl owns Tasty Thai restaurant in Uptowne Olds. Earlier this year, he took his idea of a sidewalk café to the Uptowne Olds committee.
Since then, the town has drafted, and now passed, the Sidewalk Café and Sales bylaw in order to monitor and regulate business ventures that require use of the municipal right-of-way, including sidewalks, boulevards and parking areas.
"It's going to benefit everybody. It's going to beautify the downtown," Greipl said.
Greipl surveyed his own patrons for interest in having outdoor seating.
"So many people want it. I had a petition by my till for probably about a month. I probably received up to 200 signatures. I never took it to council. I just personally wanted to see the support from my patrons," he said.
Turns out, there's just something about eating and drinking outside that people enjoy.
"Everybody likes to sit out on a deck, even at home when it's nice, right," he said.
"Enjoy the weather, fresh air. You get cooped up inside for how many months a year? We're in Alberta so enjoy it while you can."
Depending on the type of permit applied for, a restaurant's sidewalk cafe can have as many as 24 seats, plus liquor service.
That's 24 additional seats to Tasty Thai's capacity, which should help business. Greipl's restaurant opened in the middle of the economy's bust phase.
"We don't know what the good times are yet. We have a lot of support. We're trying to shop locally as much as we can. We're sourcing some of our produce out of the college."
"Enjoy the weather, fresh air. You get cooped up inside for how many months a year? We're in Alberta so enjoy it while you can." GARNET GREIPL
