Regina brewpub creates vaccinated-only room to quell COVID-19 concerns

Regina's Bushwakker Brewpub thinks it's created a solution for customers hesitant about dining out after the province's proof-of-vaccination or negative test requirement was lifted on Feb. 14.

The restaurant, located in the city's Warehouse district, has reserved its Arizona Room — a banquet room that seats about 50 people — exclusively for customers fully vaccinated against COVID-19 who are concerned about restrictions lifting, or are immunocompromised.

Grant Frew, Bushwakker's bar manager, said the idea came after the brewpub heard from some of its older clientele.

"They're a little bit more conservative," said Frew. "And they were telling us with the drop of proof-of-vaccination, we probably wouldn't be seeing them for a while."

Like many businesses in the hospitality industry, Frew said Bushwakker has been trying to recover from the financial hardship the pandemic has caused. And staff didn't want to lose the customers they'd come to know for nearly 30 years.

"We wanted to simply create a place where they can feel safe and comfortable," he said.

Jim Bence, president of the industry association Hospitality Saskatchewan, applauded Bushwakker for its creativity. He hasn't heard of any other restaurants or businesses in the province that have done something similar yet. 

Carol Kliever and her daughter Jessica were also impressed and were excited to eat in the Arizona Room on Friday.

Jessica, 19, has congestive heart failure and had previously relied on the proof-of-vaccination policy when going out to eat.

"She's very isolated and she felt quite comfortable going into restaurants knowing ... she felt fairly safe," Carol Kliewer said, noting that changed with the lifting of the restrictions.

But Bushwakker's room offers some relief, Kliewer said.

"It's like putting a wheelchair ramp onto the street," she said. "You're giving an option to immune-compromised people to have a safer choice."

Frew stressed unvaccinated customers are still welcome in the 200-seat main dining room of the restaurant — along with vaccinated customers who choose not to eat in the Arizona Room.

With birthday and retirement parties slowing due to the pandemic, Frew said that room was sitting empty more than usual and he felt this would be an opportunity to make use of it.