The Alberta government closed non-essential businesses on March 27, and food businesses were only permitted to continue to allow take-out or delivery options. This marked an important step in the COVID-19 shut down, and many businesses were left wondering about rent. It’s been nearly a month now, and businesses are still being affected by the shut down.
Last year, NAIT’s 2nd Edition was at the Good Goods Market, and we interviewed many local businesses about their strategies to sell ethically sourced food and products. One of the vendors was Candyce Morris, who is one of the owners of Kind Ice Cream and an organizer of the Good Goods Market.
I asked her if she would be able to provide us with an update on Kind Ice Cream, and share some insight into how COVID-19 is impacting local businesses, including her own. This is how Candyce Morris and Kind Ice Cream have been handling the shut down.
Q: How has Kind Ice Cream been affected by COVID-19?
A: “For us, I guess, the biggest change is we’ve had to completely shift our day-to-day operations. In terms of closing the store, to customers walking in, and shifting all of our production to being pints of ice cream only instead of scooping for customers.”
Q: Have you had to lay off any staff because of this?
A: “We’ve been really fortunate, we haven’t had to lay off any staff. We don’t have the tip option anymore for our staff. So, they have taken a reduction in their overall pay, because they don’t get that added on anymore to their weekly pay.”
Q: A lot of business owners are worried about paying rent. Is that a concern right now?
A: “It is. You know, we’re fortunate we still have customers and we’re still selling ice cream. For us, it’s a little bit more long term that is worrisome. This is, we’re entering into the busiest time of year for us and decrease in sales means that we can’t save as much for the winter months when we run at a loss. So, we’re okay for right now, but definitely as the year progresses it’ll be interesting to see how things go.”
Q: Do you find any of the government supports to help businesses are very useful or practical?
A: “I think the wage subsidy overall is a really beneficial thing. For us, it’s really tricky because we’re a brand-new business so we haven’t been in business for a year yet […] I think that overall, for businesses that’s really helpful. Otherwise, honestly, I think that a lot of it is not helpful because it’s basically just deferring payments until later. So, you’re losing all of this opportunity to make money right now, and they’re just asking you to make payments later when everybody’s running at a loss.”
Q: Are you concerned about the Canadian economy?
A: “Definitely. I think that, I mean that we just have no idea how long this is going to last. And I think we’re already seeing some pretty major consequences of what’s happening. My parents also own a small business, Juniper Café, and they’ve had to close for the time being and lay off all their staff. I think it’s going to be really difficult for a lot of businesses to come out of this. And I know the government is doing the best they can, but there’s going to be so much debt.”
Q: Do you think local businesses suffer more because of COVID-19, as opposed to larger corporations?
A: “I don’t know the financials of all the larger businesses. But I think for small businesses, and especially for small food businesses, we operate with such small margins to begin with. And at the best of times it can be really difficult to make a business viable, and work.”
Q: You mentioned in our last interview that Kind Ice Cream carries locally sourced and ethically based products? Have you heard of any negative affects that the supply chain is experiencing right now?
A: “I think so far everybody’s been able to keep up with the demand that we’ve had, and we haven’t run into any issues. If anything, I’m hoping that this situation really reinforces to more people how important it is to support local food agriculture and how important it is to keep our money and our resources within our own economy.”
Q: There has been talk about how Canada would begin to reopen the economy. What is Kind Ice Cream’s strategy for that?
A: “I mean, for us, we’re really just taking it day-by-day. We haven’t heard anything so far about when businesses may be able to return to operating as normal, or what kind of progression that will be. So, for us that’s really hard to say, and that’s honestly been one of the most difficult parts of this whole process. There’s really no way to see a couple months down the road and know what exactly business will look like.”
