INNISFAIL – It was tempting but in the end Scott and Nick Bell decided to comply with the latest COVID pandemic rules set down last week by the provincial government.
The 31-year-old twin brothers, owners of the Dark Woods Brewing & Coffee Roasting on Main Street, shut their doors for indoor service on April 9.
“We have decided to close down,” said Scott, adding he and Nick were fully aware of the consequences of defying the provincial COVID restriction of no indoor service. “We will open the patio and stuff but that is about it. We will get past it just like the first two lockdowns. We will keep going.”
But it was touch and go for the young entrepreneurs, who opened Innisfail’s first microbrewery in 2018, and then built their current business headquarters in early 2020. While the new home allowed them to serve drinks and snacks inside, they had dreams of creating a new restaurant.
But with the arrival of the pandemic in March of last year, it was a tough go with two prior provincial government shutdowns. With the latest order coming last week it would have meant a third, and their dream restaurant was only about a month away from being realized.
Scott said past shutdowns did not dramatically impact them as their business was still open for off-sales but they are now setting up a kitchen for the new restaurant, including buying food and hiring kitchen staff.
“We will lose staff if we keep closing like this,” said Scott, noting they started with 10 staff members 14 months ago before the pandemic but are now down to half that number. “We are at the point we just can’t keep up with this, and close it all down again.”
But the twin brothers had one more big talk about the decision they had to make, and by the morning of April 9 their course through the pandemic’s third shutdown was set. The doors are closed for indoor service.
“We’re a little easier now with the whole thing,” said Scott. “I hope it doesn’t last too long and we can get back to normal. We just don’t want to have any problems.”
