Order up: After a yearlong hiatus the Bonavista Social Club reopens its doors

After a year on sabbatical, chef Katie Hayes has returned home with some new ideas for the reopening of the popular Bonavista Social Club.

The restaurant — located in Upper Amherst Cove on the Bonavista Peninsula — reopened in late May.

"It's really great to be reopened and it's going really well," Hayes told CBC News.

The restaurant is working with a smaller crew this year but still focuses on dining in, wood-fired pizza as well as its traditional menu.

However, it now has counter service.

"So you order when you walk in, we explain the dishes, you check out the menu on the chalkboard, the same as before," explained Hayes.

"You take your number, you pay and then you come and you find your table wherever you like and we bring everything to you. So we're still bringing everything to the table."

She said the major difference is that people will order at the counter and everything can now be taken out of the restaurant. After being ordered the food can be heated in under 10 minutes and packed up, so people can eat at the restaurant or leave.

"Everything is kind of packaged in a way that you can eat here or take it and eat it as a picnic. You can go to the beach, take it with you for later. So same kind of menu and same style, but a little bit of a different service when you walk in," Hayes said.

There were a number of factors that led to the changes, explained Hayes. She pointed out that people are feeling more price-conscious over the rising costs of things like groceries.

"Everything is … getting more expensive. Our overhead, we need to be able to control it," she said.

The business also wanted to keep the menu "tight" and is also offering Sicilian style pizza by the slice this year, she said.

Hayes said the idea is to cater to a range of demographics, from families to seniors and travellers.

"We want to make sure that we can offer something for them to eat and something to take away. So I think that with the prices of everything … it's going to become more difficult to get things and you know the growing season is a bit later and stuff this year," she said.