The General Manager of Barbara Restaurant in Chinatown is giving back while she can afford it

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Shiva Reddy, a sommelier and general manager of Barbara Restaurant in Chinatown, didn’t know how to cook before this year, but moving home to take care of her mother forced her to pick up tried and true recipes. 

Curry, a quick comfort food that can be made in large batches, was the perfect choice for feeding other restaurant workers who, like her, have been laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now she makes food in large batches every week to hand out, going from five to 75 batches within a few weeks. Many more employees were laid off in light of the three-week ban on indoor dining in response to a spike in cases and introduction of two new variants in B.C.

We spoke to Reddy about how she got started in her charitable work and what it has been like to see the sector respond to the province’s three-week shutdown from the inside. 

How well is Barbara Restaurant faring during the pandemic? 

Barbara Restaurant is very interesting because it’s a brand new restaurant. They traditionally would run 20 seats and had to go down to 12 to 16 seats. And Barbara itself is a fine dining restaurant so takeout was wasted on it. It doesn’t carry well. 

To be honest, Chinatown has been going through a really hard time, and it’s a neglected area. People don’t like dining outside there either, so yeah, it might shut down. It might not exist, which has happened already to a lot of other restaurants too. 

Why not just get a patio? 

Restaurants are already suffering the costs of putting up plexiglass in a restaurant. They also have to over-staff because they have to keep things clean and sanitized and have to wash things more often to make sure things are safe for customers and themselves.  If people are dealing with COVID and they don’t get to go out, they’re going to sit at that table for longer than what is expected and what is financially viable, so if they’re staying there for three hours, four hours, we’re losing money. 

Restaurants are haemorrhaging money and you’re expecting them to buy a beautiful patio set and maybe a tent and heaters. Your staff have to go inside and outside constantly and you might have to staff two employees more as a result.

How are you possibly going to sustain a restaurant on three tables? It just is not feasible unless you have a large space already because you’re located in an area like New Westminster or Langley or if you are a large corporation like Cactus Club, Joey’s, or Earl’s. It’s not fair to have to make a whole new restaurant when you’re already losing so much money. 

You’ve been making food to hand out to restaurant employees who are out of work, and went from making five batches of curry per day to 60. How did you make that decision? 

Before the pandemic, I didn’t know how to cook because I work such a crazy job that’s so time consuming. Then, literally three weeks ago, I moved in with my mom. She has dementia and she’s also on dialysis because of her renal failure and she needed help. I had to learn how to cook for her with her dementia. 

She couldn’t actually tell me her recipes which is really hard because she just goes by muscle memory when she cooks, so I just had to put the recipes together and go by flavor and taste because hospital food was so depressing.

The reason why I did this was just because I have been in this situation already in the first lockdown where I couldn’t feed myself. I had no money because there was not enough support out there and I had to figure out the most cost effective thing to make, which was curry. 

Learning from my mom, living with her, I figured that since I don’t have to really worry about my rent right now as much because it’s half of what it used to be, I have something to be grateful for and I should definitely help those who are in the situation that I was literally in a year ago. 

Everybody’s working at a reduced wage. Everybody’s working at reduced hours or they completely lost their jobs and the benefit that is available federally is just not enough money. Then also, with zero help from the provincial government, the least I can do is help because I’m one of the lucky ones. 

What would you like to see the provincial government do to support restaurant workers like you? 

First thing’s first: I think that John Horgan owes a serious apology to myself and the restaurant industry because young people in the restaurant industry are working so incredibly hard to keep their customers safe, and the only variable that is questionable in a restaurant are the actual guests. People are dining with other parties that they don’t live with. People are not wearing masks while sitting across the table from each other. We don’t know who they are. We don’t know where they’ve been. Obviously some are regulars and we care for them and we love them but people are being irresponsible. Obviously there are some restaurants that defy it, but that’s a tiny percentage. 

The B.C. government needs to support restaurant workers because right now they’re just saying, “Sorry, you’re out of a job. Figure something else out but we’re not here for you because you are the problem or we don’t care enough in this scenario.” 

If you’re not going to vaccinate your restaurant workers and you’re going to force them to deal with the public and then blame them for the reason COVID spreads — which is not a scientific thing that has been proven; it’s just one of the only places that has contact tracing — I don’t think that’s fair. Please vaccinate your workers, don’t see them as expendable, give them resources, and apologize. 

Is there a vetting process people have to go through before they get food from you? 

No. Honestly, I believe in paying it forward, and if people want to swindle the system and take advantage of it that’s unfortunate, but I’m not going to deny people if they’re hungry. I’m here to help and feed them.

How are you doing drop offs? 

I try to position myself at one or two locations per day so I can give them options because this is getting so big. 

Are you able to accommodate dietary restrictions? 

Actually, I grew up eating this curry and never realized it was vegan! That’s my vegetarian option. I have two options, and the meat ones come when the meat is donated from a supplier. Right now it’s Aloo Baingan and chicken curry. 

How do people reach you to get free food? 

On Instagram and Facebook. On Facebook I have made a special page called Reddy to Help. I have my email on there. My phone number is also on my Instagram and Facebook, so if people need me they can send me a direct message, an email, or give me a call or text. They can also ask a friend to ask for them if they feel shy. Whatever it is they need, I’m here and ready to help them.

This is why I love restaurants so much, because food nourishes you and gives you so much joy. It’s so comforting but so essential, and to not be able to afford that even though you’ve been responsible is so not fair for anybody.

What kind of donations do you need right now? 

Monetary donations go the longest way because then I can be as cost-effective as possible and there’s not any food waste. We can ensure this goes for longer if needed. I have a very specific grocery list with a few items on it. People could drop off groceries or donate money. Alternatively, if people have very specific deli containers, I’m taking those and bags to drop off everything.

To receive a meal from Shiva, contact her via Instagram, Facebook, or email.