Taste of Edmonton, nearby business feel close to full pandemic recovery

At lunch time, Churchill Square was full for the Taste of Edmonton.

“It’s a way to feature our cafe and get our name out there,” said Kelly Zeidan, the owner of L’Espresso Café.

Since the festival opened on Thursday, more than 100,000 people have already come out and organizers expect the downtown event may see an above average year.

It is welcome news to Zeidan as L’Espresso Café has been located just off Churchill Square for two decades.

“We have lots of regulars, like the same customer who comes over every day. We have our morning rush and lunch rush,” Zeidan explained.

But downtown businesses are still adapting five years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with more workers going either hybrid or full online, changing the downtown lunch rush.

“They end up visiting different places. They have a different way of starting their morning; of course, we had to shorten our hours. We end up laying off some staff, but needless to say, we kept our door open,” said Zeidan.

Organizers with Taste of Edmonton were glad to see the festival bounce back through the uncertainty and changes to the downtown workforce.

“We understand that not everybody has returned to work, and you know we’re sympathetic to that, and with the taste of edmonton being an 11-day event, there’s an opportunity for people to come on weekends and evenings,” said Donovan Vienneau, the general manager of Taste of Edmonton.

For L’Espresso Café, Zeidan says they are about 90 per cent recovered from their pandemic loss, already seeing the returning regulars.

“A lot of them came back, and a lot of them were very happy that we were still around,” said Zeidan.

Zeidan is hoping that after this festival, they may be able to say the café has fully recovered.