We'll have everything in place
ready to go for when they give us the go-ahead to move on.
[Reporter: Nick Purdon] Charles Khabouth is desperate to reopen.
He wants his customers to come to his restaurant and forget about COVID.
Even for a little while.
That's what this staff meeting is all about.
It's really important that we don't make the environment feel like you're going into a hospital emergency room.
We're gonna get rid of all these blue hospital masks that some of you guys are wearing now
and create something with our logo on that's gonna be much cooler.
How do you balance safety and cool?
How can a restaurant do business in the age of COVID-19?
You can change the visor to something different.
[Reporter] That's Danny Soboranno. ranno
The other owner.
He and Charles have 14 restaurants in Canada.
We're hoping for mid-next month.
It's important we get our employees back to work.
I think they're all very anxious.
Also running out of money.
You've got to remember
we're still delivering a certain amount of appeal.
[Reporter] Here today it's hard to picture the appeal Danny is talking about.
Of pre-COVID Cabana.
Is it even possible to make a place like this safe in a pandemic?
Who's using this and what are we cleaning this with?
This is what TTC is using so it's already been approved for sanitation
and what we need so it's amazing.
After every service table when they leave
we take the table to the back and we spray them down
and then bring a new table out.
[Reporter] Picture that, tables coming and going as they're disinfected.
And even before you get to sit at one
staff have already screened you for COVID.
When the normal was that sometimes to check people coming in
to make sure that they didn't have anything that shouldn't be coming into the place.
Now that they'll be maybe taking your temperature to see how you are.
[Reporter] Maybe the biggest change here though will be the numbers
instead of 4000 people think more like 400.
Is that sustainable?
I'm not sure if it's potentially sustainable.
I think everybody wants to give it a try.
I think everybody wants to see some smiling faces
and we'll worry about the money a little later.
[Reporter] Still the changes they're making aren't free.
How much money are Danny and Charles investing to reopen?
Too much.
Over 200,000 dollars.
Our goal is to get open.
But how will we be able to get back to normality?
That's the biggest questions for me.
That keeps me up at night.
[Reporter] That's the uncertainty of the pandemic.
Even today they have no idea what the rules will be for restaurants to reopen.
The government hasn't said.
You guys are desperate to know what their rules are.
I think that's the most important thing is give us the rules.
Right now we're going way overboard with protective acrylics
and cleaning and everything else.
So there'll be a plexiglass here
So this plexiglass has already been ordered.
We've already tried one of them.
So we are likely to interact with your your neighbours
but they'll be with the plexiglass.
If you want to share a toast you can and within a foot.
[Reporter] Imagine that toasting someone through plexiglass.
Makes me wonder why not just wait for a vaccine?
You can't.
What gives me a timeline on a vaccine.
Is it six months?
Is it a year?
What about all these employees that are sitting home
and some of them can't make ends meet
Just drop everything?
That's not what we do.
We're not quitters.
We're leaders.
We hope that the government realizes that the hospitality and restaurant industry
is just not us.
It's our suppliers.
It's the guys selling us the meat the vegetables so
you can't just quit.
That's not what we do.
[Reporter] At this point you're in the pandemic
we all need something to get our minds off COVID.
So no matter the restrictions
you have to think Charles and Danny have a chance.
Any questions anybody?
We're ready to open.
We're ready.
Nick Purdon, CBC News, Toronto,.