IPHO Vietnamese Restaurant closes January 31, 2020 (photo courtesy Colton Mckee)

By Chantal Wagner

Chamber still seeing business growth

Recent restaurant closures in the city

Feb 3, 2020 | 5:07 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The food and beverage industry has seen several closures recently.

Industry Pub shut down before the end of 2019 and State & Main closed for good at the end of January.

State & Main would not comment on why it closed but did offer a heartfelt thank you to the staff and regulars they became very close with over the years.

Across town, the closed sign also hangs on the door of IPHO Vietnamese Restaurant.

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It had been in operation for the last 6 years and cites a staff shortage and financial crisis for the closure.

But with the tough times, it’s been business as usual for some restaurants in the city.

Montana’s general manager Dhaval Modi says they’re at the top of their game. “Summer was really busy for us but in the winter too we are quite busy. We keep our regular customers they like the food and service.”

Montana’s closed in 2017 and re-opened last year following renovations and finding a new franchisee.

“It affects everyone when the economy is down it’s not just them it’s everyone, restaurant industry or any industry,” said Modi.

The Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce says though businesses have closed, there’s been an upward trend for new business in general in the city– 49 according to 2017-2018 numbers. The chamber says of that number, more than one dozen are restaurants.

“Different investor opportunities and investor interest within the community to the tune of over 20 different (general business) opportunities that if they all came to fruition would see about 2.2 billion in investment and well over 11-hundred jobs,” according to Executive Director Lisa Kowalchuk.

She encourages businesses to contact the chamber for supports to save money, make connections, and information on funding and grants

“Free advertising and promotion – our business directory actually has quite a bit of traffic in terms of locating the different businesses and services within our community, there are various discounts on services that businesses use every day. So when we talk about helping with that bottom line and making sure that they’re connected with those services that will assist them.”

When it comes to the current economy she says, “I think the economic slowdown impacts all businesses across all sectors and so it’s just trying to ensure the supports are there to assist these businesses through some of the challenging times when it comes to an economic downturn so that we can see some of the benefits in the upswing that will happen when we start to see investment come to our community.”

Kowalchuk says for our community to thrive our businesses must thrive and when business thrives the community thrives.