Huge crowds form as Ontario restaurant opens for indoor dining during lockdown

None of us can forget the Adamson BBQ saga, during which an Etobicoke restaurant opened for indoor and outdoor dining for multiple days in defiance of provincial lockdown rules at the time, becoming a home base of sorts for those protesting government-imposed restrictions in the process.

It appears that another establishment has now done the same, remaining open since February 3 despite the provincewide shutdown that was implemented on Saturday and the stay-at-home order introduced yesterday.

#Leamington, (Ontario, #Canada) “Family Kitchen” restaurant defies the new provincial shutdown order and has opened its doors today welcoming hundreds of customers. pic.twitter.com/ACMLWM4nim

— chap (@G_P_L_M) April 6, 2021

Family Kitchen is a restaurant in Leamington, Ontario — about a 3.5 hour drive southwest of Toronto, near Windsor — has had hundreds of diners lining up to grab a bite and demonstrate against the lockdown.

It has been operating during its regular hours at 50 per cent capacity, the same as the big box store down the street, owner Kristy Leathem noted to CTV News earlier this week.

The business is in Windsor-Essex County, which had been in the red zone since re-entering the province's reopening framework on Feb. 16 following our last blanket shutdown.

In red, food and drink establishments were indeed to accept 50 per cent of their usual customers for indoor dining, to a maximum of 50 people, thanks to loosened dining measures rolled out on March 20.

Prior to that, indoor dining in red zones was capped at 10 people, regardless of size.

Other rules included a mandatory distance of at least two metres between tables, the wearing of masks until eating and drinking, and a limit of four people per table, all of whom had to provide their personal details for contact tracing purposes.

Family Kitchen in Leamington is going against the provincial shutdown order and has opened its doors today. #cklw @AM800News pic.twitter.com/i9sXPqfqsg

— Rob Hindi (@rhindi800) April 6, 2021

Leathem, who has 16 employees, has already been paid a visit by public health officials, and has also been issued a fine and court summons from provincial police, per the Windsor Star.