Vendors ready for new game-day experience at Mosaic Stadium

As fans go through pre-screening on Thursday ahead of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ home game Friday, the process for vendors inside the stadium has looked much different.

June Kovacs, the owner of Coney Island Poutine, gave some insight into what preparation has looked like.

“The onus was on the vendors that we had to collect all of the information from our staff, and have it recorded and have it ready in case inspectors came around and asked,” Kovacs said. “So what happens is that we had to pre-screen all of our staff. And then we keep the information — we didn’t send it in — and then we had to pick up pre-screening passes.

“So the onus is on the vendors, not the stadium. We had about a week to get it all done and collected.”

Rising COVID-19 cases in the province have made the process of getting a negative test more time consuming.

Kovacs says the rising cases have had the biggest impact on vending staff members who are unvaccinated, as they wouldn’t be able to get test results in time.

“We lost a few along the way because they didn’t get the information to us in time,” she said. “We couldn’t rely on the negative test because of the high number of people getting tested. They couldn’t guarantee the results to be in by Friday.”

Since SHA testing sites are being inundated with requests, the Roughriders are recommending patrons who need a negative test result quickly should go to a private company. There also is to be a rapid testing clinic at the stadium on game day that people can use at their expense.

After struggling to get enough staff, Kovacs says Coney Island Poutine had to take an unconventional route to make sure it wouldn’t be understaffed.

“We had to reach out to other people. It was difficult,” she said. “We had to reach out to family and friends to fill the gaps.”

Now that the gaps have been filled, Kovacs anticipates there being no other challenges compared to a typical Riders game.