It’s been a long weekend at The Water Tower.On Sunday, July 19, we found out one of our employees was in contact with someone with COVID-19. That started an agonizing process that ended in our decision to close once again until all our staff could be tested. After a quiet weekend, we’ve finally received the test results. We are glad to announce our staff has tested negative for coronavirus, so we’re opening up again. However, as part of one of the hardest-hit sectors due to the coronavirus pandemic, this weekend really tested our reserves. So now, we’re asking for your help and support.
Why we chose to close
When we got the news, we had to have a serious discussion.The truth is, the COVID-19 pandemic still has a lot of unanswered questions, which meant we didn’t have a strong base to make a choice from.In the end, it came down to our customers and our community. We knew it was possible to just ignore it and carry on. And, we knew closing the restaurant on the weekend would be really rough on our team.But, over the years we’ve created relationships with so many patrons, young and old, and we couldn’t justify risk getting them sick for one weekend of operation. Instead, we chose to uphold our responsibility to the community and shut our doors and get our whole crew tested.
What we’re doing
As a result of this, we’re increasing our efforts and keeping our staff and clientele safe. That started with our closure over the weekend as all our employees went to get tested to ensure we weren’t spreading the coronavirus. Then, we completely sanitized the restaurant to get ready for re-opening.But, we’re not stopping with that.Just like before, we are following AHS guidelines for social distancing and requiring masks for all our servers. Beyond that, we are now instituting daily temperature checks for all our employees.
A part of our community
Since Ram and Olga set their roots down here, they’ve been working to create restaurants that build into the community.That’s why we focus on sourcing as much of our ingredients right here in southern Alberta. From the steaks we sell to our new haskap drinks, we work hard to support the farmers and ranchers that are the bedrock of this community.As immigrants themselves, Ram and Olga are also passionate about helping refugees and other newcomers find their place in our thriving city. That’s why, along with our 6 red seal chefs and university students paying their way through school, we employ many new immigrants, including Bhutanese refugees.It’s because this community is so strong and creative that we’ve been able to build restaurants as good as The Water Tower, The Telegraph and the Picture Butte Hotel & Tavern.Our history in the community has convinced us they have our backs. That’s what we’re relying on now – community support
How you can help
The easiest, most delicious way of supporting us is by reserving a table and dropping by, or calling us to order takeout. We also offer gift cards you can purchase online to give as gifts, or keep for your own use later down the road.But, you don’t have to purchase anything to help us stay on our feet. We would also really appreciate it if our customers went online to leave reviews, or told others about our restaurants.From the whole team, we’d like to thank you southern Alberta for supporting us and being a great place to live and do business. We look forward to many more years supplying our corner of the province with new, exciting and most importantly delicious food for years to come.
